Mark My Heart
by TeardropxMiles
Summary: Hogwarts has a new student, Quinn Malfoy. HBP/AU. Can she leave her mark in a certain bushy haired girl's heart? REWRITE I DON'T HATE YOU
1. Crash and Meet

Hermione took a deep breath as she lined her fully-laden trolley for the Perron ¾ barrier. Ever since Harry and Ron crashed into it their second year, Hermione always felt a little anxious before running her trolley through the barrier that separated the Muggle world from the Wizarding world.

On Perron ¾ the air was filled with thick steam and all around her were students either saying goodbye to their parents or chatting with each other about the upcoming school year. Pushing her trolley across the crowded station Hermione looked for her own friends.

Soon she spotted the characteristic red hair among the blur of mostly brown and blonde. Smiling, she pushed her trolley in their direction. Harry was the one to saw her first and Hermione left her trolley to hug him, next were Ron, Ginny and the rest of the Weasley family.

They chatted until the conductor blew on his whistle, signaling that the train was about to leave."You guys go ahead, I'll just be a minute." Hermione said to Harry, and set to return her now empty trolley. She made her way through the crowd of parent waving their kids goodbye and making their way back to the barrier.

"Hermione!" Molly Weasley waved at her and Hermione waved back not really watching where she was going until her body collided with something. She fell hard to the ground and for a second the only thing she could see were stars.

Lying on the hard cold floor Hermione groaned and rubbed the sore spot on the back of her head, not doubting for a second that there will be a bump later. A pair of shoes came into her sight, there at her feet was standing a person. Judging to the pair of designer heels the person wore Hermione concluded that the person was most likely a girl.

The girl stood there impassive even though Hermione bumped into her quite hard, hard enough to send Hermione flying to the ground. Looking the girl up and down for a moment Hermione noticed that the girl's robes looked quite expensive and she presumed them to be tailored because they fit the girl perfectly.

Her blonde hair was pulled together in a tight ponytail and the girl's cold looking green or was it hazel, Hermione couldn't tell for sure, bore into her own softer brown colored eyes. To say that the girl before her was beautiful, even with the cold eyes, was (probably) an understatement.

But when the blonde gave no sign of caring for her presence or the fact that she was on the ground however Hermione felt anger bubbling up in her. The blonde's eyes left Hermione's and raked up and down her body. The bushy haired girl who bumped into Quinn and was now laying on the floor before couldn't be described as ugly nor beautiful.

She was pretty, very so but still Quinn couldn't help herself but to think the girl was dull. To Quinn she could only be described as plain, simple, but mostly boring. Quinn noticed the girl was getting angry and maybe this could be amusing after all, Quinn could only hope.

But when the girl didn't make a move to say something and Quinn grew bored enough to raise a questioning pristine eyebrow at her, Hermione flared up. "Can't you help me up?" She asked with annoyance laced in her voice.

"No." Was the curt reply she got back from the blonde.

Hermione's face was getting red when her anger flushed her facial features, "And why in Merlin's beard not?"

The girl's eyebrow rose higher, "You were the one who bumped into me, I believe you owe me an apology." Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing, the audacity.

"W-what?"

"Did I stutter?" The girl placed her hands on her hips and stared Hermione down.

"W-well.. no.., no you didn't"

"Well, I'm waiting." And to emphasize her words the girl began to tap her foot impatiently. Hermione balled her fist, is this girl for real?

"Excuse me?" she questioned petulantly. "I'm sorry but I bel-"

The blonde nodded and interrupted Hermione's mid rage rant with an "as you should be." And with that the girl swiftly turned around and walked, or glided, her way towards the train.

Scrambling to her feet Hermione followed the girl to the train before it leaved without her. Hermione was furious. Who did that girl think she was? Because of her she nearly missed the train, and to make it all worse she couldn't find Harry or Ron anywhere.

Striding through the train's different compartments she looked desperately for a familiar face but in every cubicle there were people she didn't know. She was about to look in another compartment when a voice froze her in place. "Well, look who we have here. Lost Granger?"

Leaning against the wall of the train was Draco Malfoy, signature smirk in place. Hermione sighed, she really didn't need this. "What are you doing here mudblood? This is the Slytherin compartment." Hermione cringed at the nickname, no matter how many times he would throw it at her she would never get used to it.

Slowly walking towards her Draco continued, "I can't believe they even let you get on the train, you don't belong here Granger, you never did. You and your filthy blood are a disgrace for.."

"Draco." A stern sounding voice interrupts. Hermione felt slightly grateful that the person saved her from Draco's hate filled rant, but that was however before the owner of the voice came into sight. The blonde from the station walked towards them, her gaze as stern as her voice.

She stopped next to Draco and Hermione couldn't help but notice the resembles between the two blondes. Laying her head on Draco's shoulder, the blond girl let her eyes rake over Hermione's body once again. "Draco, who's your friend?" She asked.

Draco scoffed at the implication. "She's no friend of mine Quinn, it's Hermione Granger. That know it all I told you about?"

Quinn nodded, recalling the stories her cousin told her about the goody two shoes. Quinn's eyes narrowed as she recognized the bushy haired girl as the same bushy haired girl that had bumped into her. Quinn, despite Hermione's scowl, actually smiled a small smile.

"Quinn Malfoy, Draco's cousin."Quinn introduced herself and stuck out her hand for Hermione to shake, but it was slapped away by Draco.

"What are doing Quinn? She is a filthy mudblood." Draco hissed. Quinn eyes narrowed once again but this time at the word leaving her cousin mouth, she had never took a liking to that nickname.

"Draco," Quinn's voice was stern again and to Hermione's surprise also very cold. Draco swallowed at the use of his name. "Why don't we leave miss know-it-all alone, and you introduce me to your other friends hmm?" Quinn voice sounded sickenly sweet and her perfectly sculpted eyebrow was raised as to silently daring Draco to say no.

Hermione was stunned when Draco only nodded meekly and turned his gaze to the ground, mumbling something again about Hermione not being his friend. Hermione couldn't help the smile that formed when she saw Draco this spineless. When she looked at Quinn she was surprised to see that the blonde girl was smiling too, "I'll see you around Granger."

Hermione watched the two blondes disappear in a cubicle at the end of the compartment, more on auto-pilot than anything else Hermione went to look for Ron and Harry again.

"'Mione! You missed the trolley!" Ron said with a full mouth when Hermione finally found the boys sitting with Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. Hermione smiled to herself and looked over to Harry who just shrugged wearing his own smile, it's good to know some things never change.

The rest of the train ride was filled with stories about the vacation and the upcoming school year and even with the things that happened last year Hermione couldn't help but feel excited. She loved vacation and the fact that she got to see her parents again but halfway the vacation she finds herself always yearning back to Hogwarts and the lessons there.

When the trains comes to a stop Hermione woke with a jolt, "Are we there?" She asked Harry, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Harry nodded and smiled handing Hermione her robe, thanking him, she grabbed her stuff and followed her friends out of the train.

A pair of hazel eyes thoroughly scanned the new surroundings they came in contact with, it had become pretty dark and the big spars surrounding the rough looking path ahead seemed to illuminate it with a green glow. Quinn looked up to the tall gate, guessing from the amount of rust it had she wouldn't be surprised if it originated out of the time Hogwarts was build.

She and Draco where one of the last to get off the train so they were basically alone, Quinn liked it that way. Ignoring her cousin absentmindedly chatter about Hogwarts, they walked past the gate, Quinn soaking up every detail of this place she heard Draco say so many good things about.

The gate closed automatically behind them, Quinn let Draco lead her to male goblin who asked for their names but Quinn wasn't really interested in the things the goblin had to tell. There before her was a carriage, that wasn't so odd itself, but what was before it was. Quinn took a deep breath, there was a thestral harnessed to the carriage.

She left Draco's side and stepped carefully towards the large carriage and the thestral, she read about them, you could only see them if you've seen somebody die and accepted their death. Carefully Quinn stepped closer to the large black creature, she was engrossed in its beauty, she didn't even feel her arm moving before it was almost touching the thestral manes.

The thestral stood frozen on its spot as if it sensed Quinn's feeling of conflict. Quinn's arm was shaking as she put it tentatively on the horse's flank, leaving it there for a while, too timid to move it. Only when the thestral moved its head to brush Quinn shoulder she relaxed and started to brush the creature's flank.

"Quinn? What are you doing?" Draco studied his cousin as she spun around to face him.

"Nothing," Quinn sighed as she looks back over her shoulder, "Absolutely nothing."

Draco nodded to himself not believing a single word but he smiled and gestured to the carriage, "Shall we?" He asked. Now it was Quinn who smiled a small smile though it was filled with sadness. It surprised Draco when it actually hurt to see that smile on Quinn.

"I don't know if you know this but I.. I mean you can- What I'm trying to say is- you can tell me if you want." Draco managed to get out when they got on the carriage.

"Thank you Draco, but I would rather not talk about it." Quinn answered and she shot him that smile again.

"But Quinn –"

"I said I didn't want to talk about it." Quinn raised her voice as she glared to him.

Draco dropped his gaze to the floor, he heard Quinn sigh and when he looked up again she was looking away from him. He did the same and watched the trees pass by them as they rode the rest of the road in silence.


	2. Draught of Living Death

Slowly the Great Hall filled itself with students, as every year the ceiling was adorned with hundreds of candles and as every year Hermione was in awe with the beauty of it all. It still amazed her how the magic worked, not that she didn't know the spell she was Hermione Granger after all, but she has seen magic do horrible things that she was glad when she was remembered that magic can also do beautiful things.

As the trio sat down at the Gryffindor table, the nervous looking first years were being led to the front of the Great Hall. "Can you believe that we were once like that?" Harry asked smiling and pointed to a little boy who looked like he was about to run away.

Laughing Hermione shook her head, "I think I looked the exact same way when my names was called."

Soon the last one of the first students is up and after a few seconds a loud "Gryffindor!" echoes through the Great Hall followed by a great amount of applause. As the young boy Harry pointed out earlier found a seat at the Gryffindor table, Dumbledore made his way to the front for his annual speech.

"Very best of evenings to you all, first of let me introduce the newest member of our staff Horace Slughorn," A man with brown robes stood up from behind the teachers table. "Professor Slughorn has agreed to resume his old post as Potions master, meanwhile the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts will be taken by Professor Snape."

The Slytherin table clapped enthusiastically except for two students. Draco was leaning with his head on his hand, looking at nothing in particular. Quinn who was seated next to him was boringly examining her nails, could this speech last any longer? "Also we welcome a new 6th year student, sorted into Slytherin, Quinn Malfoy."Dumbledore continued. Again the Slytherin table began to clap while the other students where loudly whispering.

Hermione tensed up at the name as her eyes unconsciously roamed the Slytherin table. "Malfoy? As in family of Draco?" Harry asked confused.

"Great, like we need another one." Ron mumbled, his mouth filled with pudding.

Hermione glared at him, "Could you stop eating for one second!?" Ron coughed and casually leaned towards Harry.

"What got her knickers in a twist?" He whispered to his friend who just mouthed a "I don't know."

At the end of the Slytherin table a blonde girl stood up and immediately sat back down. "That can't be related to Draco, look at her! I mean she is pretty and Draco is just.. Draco and she is definitely not like Draco at all, I mean.." Ron trailed off, seeing the glare Hermione shot him, and returned to his pudding.

"I don't know," Harry said as he watched the blonde girl talk to Draco. "We have to keep an eye on them, now that Draco is a death eater, a family member can't be good news."

"Harry.." Hermione paused and sighed, "We don't know for sure yet that Draco is a death eater" Harry nodded absentmindedly, he was staring at the blond girl from across the Hall. The girl stared back with piercing, cold eyes.

Harry narrowed his eyes at her and Quinn rose her eyebrow as they continued their stare off. "I just know, Hermione," he said. "I just know."

After Quinn sat down again she asked Draco about the food. She was certainly not going to eat that weird looking red jelly pudding, who could eat that stuff anyway? "It's tripe Quinn, it's made from-"

"Somebody is watching us." Quinn interrupted Draco, searching for the person who was watching them. Her eyes found a familiar face, Hermione Granger was sitting at the Gryffindor table. Granger was talking to a brown haired boy with glasses, the infamous Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived, The Chosen One was staring at Quinn, wow she couldn't feel any more special. The boy narrowed his eyes at her and instinctively Quinn raised her eyebrow.

"Dark forces attempt to penetrate this castle's walls. But in the end, their greatest weapon is you. Just something to think about. Now, off to bed. Pip-pip." The end of Dumbledore speech broke the trance between Harry and Quinn. Harry glanced at his friends, Hermione looked concerned and a grimace adorned Ron's face.

"Well that was cheerful." Someone said and Harry could only agree.

* * *

Always being an early riser, Hermione got out of bed before the sun had the change to come up. She was prefect again this year, and like her previous years she was determent to be her best. It was the first official school day, so that meant for Hermione that a lot of first years s would have questions, and of course she was willing to answer them. Even though that meant getting up before everybody else, and be the first of the Trio to eat breakfast in the Great Hall.

During her first year of being a prefect she had learned that being around The-Boy-Who-Lived could get a little too intimidating for the first years, and they would be too scared to ask their questions. Since that Hermione made sure she was always alone for short periods of time during the day, so that the new kids could ask her as many questions as they would like.

She dressed up in her school uniform, robes and all. Hermione checked if her hair wasn't being too much of a mess that day, and combed some of the stubborn locks of hair again till they sat like the girl wanted them too. Hermione left the bathroom to grab her bookcase she had packed the evening before and her wand, the locks she had just combed already in a bushy mess again.

The halls of Hogwarts were buzzing with excitement, students from every year were walking through the halls to their first class of the new semester. Among them was Hermione escorting a group of young, new Gryffindors to their first class. Some of them Hermione noticed already made some friends, chatting happily with each other, which made her smile remembering how hard it was for her to make friends her first year. Some of them also looked nervous, or were jumping up and down from excitement. One brown haired boy in particular looked extra nervous and stayed really close with Hermione as she lead them through the halls of the Castle, from his small stature and his light skin tone she recognized him as the boy Harry pointed out at the Ceremony.

When they reached the Grand Staircase she stopped the group and turned around to explain how the stairs worked, and what to do when something went wrong or didn't work out. When she was done she scanned the faces of her students to see if they really got it, but when she met the eyes of the nervous boy, he lowered his gaze immediately to the ground.

Hermione clapped her hands, "Alright here we are then, time to put my lesson into practice. Your first class is The Defence Against The Dark Arts which is on the third floor, classroom 3C. It takes three stairs from here to get there, remember my tips and you all will be perfectly fine and on time." She smiled as she saw her students depart, the shy boy at the back.

"Hey you, what's your name?" She asked the boy gently, laying a hand on his shoulder holding him back a bit.

"Gabriel." The boy said softly, not looking up to meet Hermione's curious eyes.

Hermione kneeled before him, "That's a very nice name." She complimented.

The boy looked into Hermione's eyes for a short moment of time, revealing dark, brown eyes to the girl. He mumbled a soft thank you before returning his gaze to the ground again. "Do you like Hogwarts so far?" Hermione asked the boy, and he nodded.

"But you are scared you won't make any friends?" She guessed, and Gabriel nodded again, his shoulders slumping. "Well Gabriel, do you know what I have learned? If you just be yourself, work hard, and take some risks once in a while you'll find your own little group that suits you best. Just like I did. "Hermione encouraged him, hoping it would help him a little.

The boy looked up again, this time with a little smile. "Thank you." He said again, this time with some more confidence. His dark, brown eyes looking lighter with a smile on his face.

"You're welcome," Hermione smiled. "Now it's time to go to class, you don't want to be late and break the rules do you?" Gabriel shook his head before taking off to follow his classmates. Hermione watched him go till she couldn't she him anymore, and set off to the dungeons. Potions was her first class of the semester and Hermione couldn't help but feel excited. She was eager to get back to learning, also the fact that Snape didn't teach potions anymore was a relief, but she wasn't so sure if she should be happy that he was teaching Defense Against The Dark Arts now.

The sounds of Quinn's heels clicking against the floor echoed to the dungeons, the air was humid here and the girl could already say she didn't like the undergrounds of Hogwarts. Quinn was late, she hated being late, or well she couldn't care about being late she just didn't like it when people stared at her. She walked down the stairs to the Potions classroom, it wasn't Quinn's favorite subject but she didn't hate it either. When Quinn took the last steps and walked into the large room where professor Slughorn already had begun his lesson. Everybody stopped paying attention to the Professor as soon as they saw the blonde step into the room. Quinn rolled her eyes and walked over to Draco who gave her a smirk, Slughorn now noticing her entrance, smiled. "Miss Malfoy, how nice of you to join us." Quinn nodded and crossed her arms, she knew Slughorn's smile was as fake as the love created by Amortentia.

Not soon after Quinn arrived at the dungeon Harry Potter walked into the class, Weasley boy in tow. Quinn ignored the way Slughorn fawned over the boy like he was some rare famous wizard card and instead paid attention to the potions standing on the large table. Quinn could smell the new parchment from where she was standing so the Amortentia wasn't hard to guess. Draco studied his cousin with curious eyes, he grinned when he could practically see the gears turn in Quinn's head. Quinn sensing eyes on her turned her attention to the boy with the playful grin on his face, "What?" She whispered, irritated yet amused that Draco was grinning.

"You are a geek aren't you?" Draco whispered back. Quinn rolled her eyes but smiled none the less.

"As I was saying, I made some concoctions this morning. Any ideas what these might be..?" Professor Slughorn drawn out. Instantly Hermione's hand shot up and so did Quinn's eyebrows. So maybe Draco hadn't exaggerated when he told Quinn about the know it all.

"Yes, Miss..-"

"Granger, sir." The bushy haired girl said as she walked to the table.

"That one there is Veritaserum, it's a truth telling serum. And that one is Polyjuice potion, terribly tricky to make. Just as Amortentia, the most powerful love potion in the world. It's rumored to smell differently to each person according to what attracts them." Quinn looked over to Draco but he didn't seemed to listen to what Granger had to say and chose to look to the ground instead. As the bushy haired girl continued found herself hanging on the girl's words.

Hermione swallowed and took a small breath before continuing . "For example I smell," she paused. The smell of the potion was intoxicating and she felt herself feeling more and more infatuated the longer she stood by it. "Freshly mowed grass and.. new parchment and.." Hermione frowned but continued. "Vanilla, peach.. soap?" She blinked a couple of times breaking the haze of the potion, confused Hermione stepped back to her original place.

"Very good, very good miss Granger. Now we'll be making Draught of Living Death, which can be a very dangerous potion when not made the right way. Because of that, and the fact that this is a new class of extraordinary people, we'll make this potion in pairs. To get to know each other some more." Slughorn said, eyeing Harry like an excellent piece of steak. It made Quinn want to puke, she looked over at Draco who sported the same facial expression as herself. When he looked back they nodded, making a silent deal that they would go together.

"Nevertheless, good luck to you all. Let the brewing begin." Slughorn finished his explanation. The students rushed to their tables to get there as fast as possible. Draco also rushed to his cauldron, with Quinn lagging behind, not really in the mood to make a potion. "Oh miss Malfoy, would you be interested in pairing up with miss Granger here? It seems that she lacks a partner, Draco could pair up with Goyle." Professor Slughorn asked, smiling that fake smile of his.

Quinn looked over at Draco who wasn't even paying attention to the whole arrangement, being very busy brewing the potion that could win him Liquid Luck. Then the blonde girl looked over at Hermione, who was scowling at her. Quinn sighed inaudibly, put on a smile that mocked Slughorn's and answered that she would love to be Hermione's partner in a sweet voice. Slughorn clapped enthusiastically in his hands, and Quinn rolled her eyes as she made her way towards Hermione's table.

It didn't took long before Hermione was huffing and puffing above the thick, dark, green potion. Her sleeves were rolled up, her hair was even more a mess than before, and she was looking more desperate by the minute as she tried to cut the bean. "Why don't you crush it?" Quinn asked, looking amused at Hermione's flustered appearance. Quinn hadn't done anything but sit beside the bushy haired girl, who made her clear from the moment Quinn arrived at her table that she would make the potion.

Quinn was fine with it, they wouldn't get a grade anyway and she was rather enjoying driving Hermione up the wall. "Because Malfoy, the book says cut it. You follow the book or you rather well throw everything in it at once and hope for a good out coming." Hermione sneered, making Quinn snicker.

"Well why don't we just do that then?" Quinn said. Standing up from her stool, she grabbed a bit of every ingredient that was spread out on the table and threw it in the cauldron. Before Hermione could stop the girl, she had already thrown everything in it.

Hermione's hands shot in her hair from despair, both the girls watched as the potion turned from a dark green into a clear liquid with a light green tint.

"Alright everybody, time to bring your concoctions forward." Slughorn announced, motioning for everybody to come forward.

Quinn shot Hermione a grin, "Let me, I insist." She said. Quinn carried the potion over to the front, walking next to Draco.

"So, how was Know-It-All?" He asked, whispering. Quinn only grinned again, and motioned with her head to their table. Hermione was sitting on her stool, her head was lying face forward on the table, her bushy strands were sticking out from everywhere, and her hands where still buried deep in them.

The image made Draco laugh out loud, a sound Quinn hadn't heard in quite some while. So she watched her cousin, smiling at his muffled laughs.


	3. Not so Crazy

The sound of birds twittering resonated of the walls. Footsteps broke the rest of the silence that dominated the hallways. A startled "What was that" was followed by a muffled bang.

"Could you be any more stealth like!? Go find what we are here for, and try not to drop the apple again!" A second voice hissed. A broken record player played in the background.

"Draco here, look." Draco turned around and looked up to the tall, carpet covered cabinet. The floor creaked as he stepped towards it and removed the carpet. Draco studied the now exposed cabinet, he didn't know if he should be happy or sad about the fact they found it. A hand on his shoulder broke Draco's train of thought, "Come on, let's go." Draco nodded, glanced one last glance at the cabinet and walked away.

* * *

"Draco," Quinn whined. "Why did we pick Herbology again? I hate Herbology." Quinn continued, walking extra slow to the greenhouses.

"It was this or Care For Magical Creatures, and I'm not taking that ever again. Now come on Quinn, we're already lagging behind." The cousins followed the class of Slytherins to the greenhouses, one of them looking very annoyed.

"Ah welcome, welcome everybody. And you two, come in, come in." Professor Sprout exclaimed, smiling and motioning for Draco and Quinn to enter the greenhouse. The witch was little with short, grey, wavy hair. Her clothes were tattered, and covered in dirt and earth. Quinn, noticing the Professor's cheerful greeting was genuine, smiled her own little smile and nodded to the professor.

The class was harder than Quinn thought it would be, she really hated Herbology and she always had a tough time concentration enough to get it. When Professor Sprout announced the ending of the class Quinn sighed a sigh from relief, finally. But then she realized she had to get back to the musty, old castle, and she let out a groan.

Quinn heels ticked against the floor, the sound slowly driving her crazy. Was there something in this whole castle that was not made out of stone? She had to get out of here again, the corridors seemed to get smaller every time she turned a corner. Quinn felt herself panicking, the stone walls seemed to close her in more and more. Where was that damn exit!? Her breathing became labored, coming out in ragged wheezes as sweat trickled down her forehead. Luckily, after what seemed ages, Quinn found an corridor that lead outside.

Quinn gulped in the fresh, open air, trying to get her breathing and her racing heart back under control. After a few moments Quinn calmed down enough to blame the damn castle for making her weak, "Stupid castle, stupid country, stupid school." Quinn muttered.

"Ah miss Malfoy, making a nice stroll too are we?" A voice interrupted her mid-rant, Quinn turned around caught off guard. There stood the Dumbledore, the school's headmaster, smiling nicely at her. Still trying to get her breathing under control, Quinn's famous sweet smile looked forced . "I love making these little strolls around the grounds, I find it can calm the mind of all worries." Dumbledore continued, apparently ignoring Quinn flustered state.

Quinn, now having everything under control again, managed a polite smile and a nod. "Let's make one together, shall we? I'm sure Draco hasn't had the change yet to show you all the wonders of Hogwarts outside the castle." Before Quinn could protest the old man walked away, clearly wanting Quinn to follow.

The tour was surprisingly informational and somewhat amusing but Quinn couldn't help but think about the things she could do if she wasn't walking around aimlessly. "Sir, while I liked –" Quinn began to say.

"There is a nice spot near the lake." Dumbledore interrupted her. "It's very beautiful, and very few know about it. It would be a shame if you were one of the ones who missed out on it." Quinn nodded slowly and just followed the old man. The path led them to a small clearing with a gorgeous sight of the lake and its surroundings. A large oak tree stood nearby and it seemed like the best place to get away from everything, maybe Dumbledore wasn't as crazy as she had first thought.

"How are things going Miss Malfoy?" Quinn doubted about how to answer, she was sure Dumbledore would see through a lie but she wasn't keen on telling the truth either. "Fine, I suppose."

The look Dumbledore gave her told her he didn't really believe her, "Come, come Miss Malfoy now is not the time to get shy. Do you like it so far in England?"

Quinn shook her head, "Not really no, it makes me miss everything I left behind. Even though there wasn't much to leave." Her voice was laced with sadness and the last sentence she said quietly, more to herself than to the Headmaster.

"And how are you fitting in with the other students? Made some friends besides the young Draco?" The Headmaster asked.

Quinn shrugged, "I'm not really looking for friends, people look at me like I'm an intruder, I don't belong here." Dumbledore nodded, seemingly overthinking something. "You are a very bright witch Quinn, I have no doubt you will do magnificent things at Hogwarts. And maybe even leave your footprints behind in some of the students hearts. Now, would you like a piece of candy?" Dumbledore said, holding out some toffee's, in his eyes a twinkle that could resemble a child's on Christmas day.

Quinn smiled, taking a toffee. They stood before the clearing in silence, Quinn wasn't really thinking about Dumbledore's comment. Even though he wasn't as crazy as she first thought he was, he was still a little crazy. "It's very beautiful." Quinn whispered, watching as sunrays made the water surface glister.

"That it is indeed. See, the reason I brought you here is to hope that whenever you feel.. Closed in, at the castle. You can come here to remind yourself that Hogwarts isn't that bad." Dumbledore said. Quinn looked up at him with gratefulness in her eyes, and Dumbledore smiled a knowing smile. "Now, shall we leave this place for what it is and return to the castle? If I'm correct they still have a copy of Goshawk's Guide to Herbology at the library." Dumbledore offered, and Quinn nodded. Not sure anymore if Dumbledore was just crazy or very clairvoyant.

When they arrived back at the entrance of the castle again, Dumbledore wished Quinn a good day and said something about needing to water his plants. Quinn just shook her head as she watched the old man walk away, the man was something alright. Deciding to follow up on Dumbledore's not so subtle hint about her taking out a book to help her with her Herbology homework she set foot inside of the castle to head off to the library. Still feeling a bit queasy, walking back inside the castle, Quinn took a few deep breaths, straightened her back, and held her head up high. She wasn't going to let some castle get to her, or the people attending it.

"No Ronald, I am not going to make your Transfiguration homework!" Hermione said as she and Ron walked into the crowded Gryffindor common room. Now that they were sixth years they had a lot more free time, but before Harry or Ron could enjoy it they found out that they had a lot more schoolwork too.

"Come on 'Mione, McGonagall will go mental if I won't have her essay tomorrow." Ron continued.

Hermione sighed, "I'll write the prelude."

Ron gave Hermione a lopsided smile at that, "Thanks 'Mione, I don't know what I would do without you." Hermione smiled back at him, maybe that smile was the reason why she always caved in.

The common room was bustling with noise, Ron had already forgot about his transfiguration homework and was playing Wizard's Chess with Seamus. Harry was in a conversation with Dean about his new found talent for potions and Ginny was talking to her friends about boys and whatnot. Hermione couldn't possibly make her homework under these conditions so she grabbed her schoolbag, notified Harry and Ron that she was going to work somewhere else and walked out of the common room.

Hermione had always preferred the library over the Gryffindor Tower reading room, while the room was convenient, it lacked the allure the big library had on Hermione. The feeling of books surrounding her, the scent of parchment, being able to read as many books as she liked. Since the first time the young Hermione had set a foot in the library it was the place where she felt at home, like she belonged there. It was a relieving feeling for the young girl at the time, to have a place that reminded her that maybe she did belong at Hogwarts.

Being the daughter of two ordinary dentists from London Hermione had a hard time to believe that she was even remotely special let alone that she was a witch. Even now walking through these quiet halls of the Castle, she had come to love, it felt surreal for her. Dragging her hand over the stone walls, Hermione savored the feeling of them. With Voldemort coming up, Hermione was afraid that her time at Hogwarts would be over sooner than everybody else thought.

Hermione continued to walk dwelling on her thoughts, but it got interrupted by a soft meow. The bushy haired girl slowly stopped walking, and when she was standing still a small black kitten came walking up to her. "Hi kitty, where did you come from..?" Hermione spoke to the kitten who looked up at her with big black eyes, on its forehead a light spot in the form of a half moon. Hermione kneeled down, and began to scratch the little cat behind its ear. "What's your name sweetie?" She asked as the kitten purred and rubbed its head against Hermione's hand.

"Salem." A voice echoed through the empty hall. The kitten looked up and strutted away immediately, Hermione looked up to see Quinn Malfoy standing at the end of the hall. "His name is Salem." The blonde girl elaborated, stepping a few steps closer.

"He's yours?" Hermione asked. Quinn nodded. "Well why do you let him walk around like this all on his own? He could get lost, it's much more responsible to let him on your room."

Quinn smiled, ignoring Hermione's judging tone of voice. "He's a stubborn little fellow, hard to keep your eye on. I suppose he doesn't like being locked up. But I will take your great advice into consideration." Yet Quinn couldn't help but mock the girl for her judgment.

"Salem, home." Quinn said, her finger pointing at the end of the hall. The little kitten's ears perked up, and there he went. Walking past Hermione, he had to stop at her feet and rub his head against the girl legs but a stern "Salem" send the little kitten on his mission again. Hermione watched him turn the corner, impressed with the little things intelligence. Now Quinn was walking too, right towards Hermione. Stopping next to the bushy haired girl, Quinn grinned. "Don't worry, I'll make sure he arrives safely. If you were concerned." Quinn said, mocking the girl once more. Making Hermione grit her teeth.

Quinn walked past Hermione, that Herbology book had to wait. Quinn still had some unfinished business with somebody that needed to be handled first. The blonde girl however could feel that she was being watched, so at the end of the hall before the corner she turned around to find that Hermione was staring at her.

Hermione watched as Quinn walked away, staring at the girl's swaying hips and ponytail. "It's impolite to stare Granger, I would think someone of your intelligence would know that." She said and raised her perfectly sculpted eyebrow before she left Hermione's sight.

Hermione shook her head, trying to get rid of the image that was Quinn Malfoy. She seriously needed to work on her homework, it would certainly take her mind of things. So Hermione continued her walk to the library, trying the whole way not to think about a certain blonde Slytherin.

**A/N: Just a short one to thank everybody for following and reviewing this story.**

**To my new followers, welcome.. To the ones that also read I Don't Hate You, I hope you appreciate the changes I made.**

**And I ask you all to consider reviewing, this will be the only time I'll ask but I ask you because it can really mean a lot to a writer. **

**Not only to me, but to everybody. So make somebody's day once in a while, and review :) **

**Thank you. **


	4. Our Arithmancy Class

Draco was leaning against the entrée of the Slytherin common room, talking to Pansy. The blond boy had walked into the girl when he was leaving the common room, and she started a conversation with him. "Can you believe Potter is captain of those Gryffin losers?" Pansy asked, spottingly. Draco just shrugged, "Not really, they just ran out of other incompetent morons to run the team." Draco didn't really care about Quidditch anymore, there were other things that were more important than some stupid game.

Pansy however was not satisfied with Draco's uncaring answer, "What's the matter with you Draco? You've been this way ever since that girl came here, and you never hang out with us anymore. You are always around _her." _Pansy said, not covering up the disdain in her voice when she said the word her.

Draco narrowed his eyes, he had heard this before from Crabbe and Goyle. But before he could answer, the girl before him let out a loud shriek, "What is that doing here!?" She yelled, pointing at the kitten who was wiggling its little black tail before he jolted behind Draco's legs at the loud noise coming from Pansy. "Get it away from me Draco!" Pansy barked. The girl had drawn her wand and was waving it frantically in front of her.

To Draco the little black cat was only a reminder to why he had left the common room again, he was supposed to look after it. Draco swallowed, trying to get the hysterical Pansy under control before.. But it was already too late, Draco could hear the sound of heels and not long after that appeared Quinn from the staircase. "Draco Malfoy!" Quinn yelled, her voice echoing through the hall of the dungeon.

Pansy whipped around, startled. Quinn noticed now the drawn wand from Pansy, "What the hell is going on here?" She asked Draco, ignoring the girl with the wand.

"That is none of your business!" Pansy screamed, again waving her wand frantically around. "This is all your fault! You.. You blood traitor!" Pansy continued to scream insults at Quinn. The blonde girl walked closer, seemingly not affected by the wand that was being pointed at her. "Draco." Quinn sneered looking at the cowering boy, "You know I hate dogs, make sure your girlfriend is on the leash next time. Please let pug-face here lower her wand before bad things happen."

"How dare you talk to me like that!? You are nothing better than a filthy mudblood!" Pansy barked, like the dog she is, her face red from anger. "What did you just say to me?" Quinn hissed, stepping dangerously closer to Pansy. Pansy's wand now touching Quinn's chest, even though the fabric of her jumper Quinn could feel the wand trembling. Yet Pansy didn't back down, "You heard me." She spotted. What followed was a burst of bright white light that glowed up the dungeon and a scream of agony that could be heard on the first floor.

* * *

The halls the next morning were filled with students, everywhere there were groups of various students talking busily to each other, or to be precise they were gossiping. A rumor had been spreading itself on the grounds of Hogwarts.

Harry and Hermione were having breakfast at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall when Ron came running up to them, "Have you.. have you heard about.. Quinn Malfoy?" Ron said slightly out of breath before he plopped down next to Harry, "She's gone mental, I heard." He began but quickly got distracted by Hermione's still half full plate. "You gonna eat that, 'Mione?" Hermione just pushed her plate across the table, Ron grinned and dived in.

"Why has she gone mental Ron?" Harry asked, curious to know more about the new Malfoy.

"I heard from Ginny, who heard from Neville, who heard from Dean, who heard from Seamus, who heard from-"

"Just spit it out, Ron!" Hermione interrupted Ron's rant.

"Alright, alright. Always so bloody impatient." Ron mumbled but continued. "I heard that Malfoy completely went mental last night! She hexed Pansy Parkinson for no reason!" Ron exclaimed. "And Dean said that he had heard that Pansy had all these burns on her body and was sizzling on the floor when they found her. Quinn was standing next to her and was just laughing maniacally, in a really, really creepy way I heard."

Harry nodded absentmindedly, thinking about the blond witch. "Oh come on Ronald, you can't practically believe that, it's ridiculous. She could have killed Pansy, or worse, get herself expelled. Not even Quinn would want that, not after she just got here."

"We don't know that Hermione. I mean, what do we even know about this Quinn?" Harry paused for a second to look at his friends. "Nothing right? Only that she is related to Malfoy and we only know that for sure because of her last name. We need to get more information about her, but how..?" Harry trailed off.

"Wait!" Ron, who had been silent the whole time and was enjoying his breakfast, straightened up. "Quinn is a Malfoy right?" Harry nodded. "Draco is a Malfoy too right?" Harry nodded again, this time slower like he wasn't sure Ron had really asked that. Hermione was trying not to scowl, she didn't like Ron's stalling at all. "And Draco is on the Black family tree, correct?"

"Yes, Ron he is. What is your point?" Harry asked, slightly losing his patience.

"Then shouldn't Quinn be on it too!?"

Harry shook his head, "No she is not, I observed that tapestry to the fiber and she is not on it."

"Look," Hermione said as she stood up. "We are almost late for class, Harry you still need to see Dumbledore and Ron and you both got quidditch try-outs this afternoon. I'll look for information on the Malfoy's in the library, but I'm sure that everything you heard was just a rumor and both Quinn and Pansy will be sitting in our class. We'll meet again before the try-outs at lunch."

Hermione was disappointed however when there was no sign of the two Malfoy's or Pansy Parkinson in the trio's Charm class. Hermione also found out that Quinn was in her Advanced Arithmancy Studies, but Hermione could only stare at an empty seat before her. After Arithmancy is was time for lunch, so as usual Hermione got caught up in the Lunch Madness.

All the classes just ended and all the younger students were busy getting ready for lunch, the older students always arrived a bit later having the knowledge of Lunch Madness. Hermione usually left early, wanting to mix in with the younger students in case they had questions, and it was handy because she could always reserve a seat for her best friends.

So Hermione was preparing herself to get stuck and wait in a line to get to the stair case but something was going on. All around her people where busy whispering, some were even pointing at the end of the hall. Being her curious self she stood on her toes to look over the smaller children and what see saw surprised her, Quinn Malfoy was standing at the back of the hall.

Quinn was rounding a corner when she could hear it, a sound she knew very well: Gossip. The blonde witch stood still at the end of the hall that lead to the staircases, all around her were younger kids talking to each other waiting for the line to move. "You." Quinn spoke to some random freshman that was standing before her, "Move. Now." The boy turned around scowling, but his facial expression turned into fear as he saw who it was. Immediately the boy moved to the side, pulling a long some of his friends.

It didn't took long before more students realized who it was that was standing at the back of the hall, heavenly whispering and pointing they all moved out of the way. Most of them not even realizing they were doing it. Quinn smiled when a free path was created in the middle of the Hallway, with her hands on her hips Quinn began walking through it. The blonde witch didn't pay much attention to the turning heads or the whispering, she just looked on straight ahead with her head held high.

Quinn however had noticed the bushy curls sticking out above the smaller children, and she only knew one person with that kind of disastrous hair. So when she walked past Hermione she nodded, and acknowledged the girl with a "Granger." Quinn could hear the footsteps coming from Hermione behind her, trying to catch up with the girls long strides.

"You weren't in Transfiguration today." Hermione said accusingly. Quinn didn't seem all that different than the day before, Hermione observed, looking the girl up and down. Could she really have hexed Pansy? And if Quinn was here, where was Pansy.. Or Draco, for that matter. Hermione looked ahead, only seeing a big group of first years standing before the staircase. They should have been stuck right there, but.. They weren't.

Hermione was baffled when she saw the student body actually move out of their way, whispering loudly and some pointing at the Slytherin before her. The blond witch walked, no strode, through the group of students. Head held high and her eyes looking coldly ahead, a small smile on her lips as she saw the students part before her. The blonde witch heels where a perfect rhythm for her swaying hips, and lower body parts. Not that Hermione was specifically looking at that to know. She wasn't.

As she watched Quinn walk before Hermione realized she had never seen someone look so untouchable. It was as if nobody could ever measure up to the Slytherin and it annoyed Hermione to no end. Who did the blonde think that she was? Family of the bloody Queen? Well, she was a Malfoy after all. Maybe she really thought she was Royal.

"You missed your first class today." Hermione stated, accusingly.

"That was today!? Oh, I feel simply awful!" Quinn said, feigning distraught. Quinn rolled her eyes, "It must have slipped my mind." She said, now in a more indifferent tone while walking down the stone stairs. Her heels ticking with every step, making a surprisingly nice harmony.

Hermione huffed at Quinn's little theatrical streak, "Yes, well as a new comer here at Hogwarts I would say it's wise to attend every class. Where were you anyway?"

"I don't care Granger, and also.. None of your bussiness." Was Quinn's simple reply.

"How can you simply not care about school? You also weren't in our Arithmancy class. What will you do next? Not show up at Potions either?"

At this Quinn glanced back, raising her perfectly sculpted eyebrow. "Our Arithmancy class Granger? Are we that close now?" Hermione couldn't stop the blush that crept to her cheeks.

"You know that's not what I meant." Hermione tried to save herself, but when Quinn only nodded with that damn smirk on her face, she knew it was futile. "Why did you have to ruin our potion?" Hermione asked instead, getting annoyed with Quinn's answers.

"You mean your potion. And it was fun." Was Quinn's answer, which annoyed the witch even more. What could be possibly be fun about failing something, on purpose! "Besides, don't worry. I'll behave and be there next time we'll work together." Hermione huffed at this, as if.

"Too bad for you Malfoy, the Professor said we weren't going to do any more group projects. I asked him myself." Hermione said, the triumph present in her tone. The girls had reached the ground floors and stood still before the stairs.

"We'll see about that Granger." And with that Quinn walked away, but not to the Great Hall.

"Where are you going!?" Hermione called out at the back of the girl.

"I found your nose Granger! It was in my business again." Quinn called back, and walked out of sight.

When Hermione finally arrived at the Great Hall she was glad to see that Harry and Ron were already seated. The witch joined them and together they discussed Harry's lesson with Dumbledore and the upcoming try-outs. Harry was nervous about the whole new captainship, Hermione could tell. "I can't believe how Quidditch became so popular," Harry said after he took a bite out of his sandwich.

Hermione sighed, "Come on Harry, it's not Quidditch! It's you! You've never been so interesting, and to be honest never so attractive either." Ron choked on his shepherd's pie. Hermione glanced at him briefly before turning her attention back to Harry. "It's perfectly logic people are intrigued by you, for example-" Before Hermione could continue her rant however she was interrupted by Hedwig who landed gracefully on the middle of the table.

"Ha!" Harry exclaimed as he opened the package that was carefully bound around Hedwig's foot.

He held the brand new copy of Advance Potion-Making up to examine, "Good!" Hermione said, pleased. "Now you can give that other book back to Professor Slughorn."

Harry looked at her if she was crazy, "Are you crazy?" Harry asked. "I'm keeping that! Look I already thought about it –" He pulled out the old copy of the book out of his bag, grabbed his wand and tapped it on the book. "Diffindo," he whispered and the cover fell off. He repeated the spell with the other book, switched the covers, tapped both of the books and mumbled: "Reparo." Hermione pursed her lips disapprovingly but refrained from saying anything and diverted her attention to Hogwarts: A History.

**A/N Again I hope you all like the changes. I'm afraid the events are all over the place now, making it look like one big mambo jambo, but yet I kind of like it. Hope you do too.  
**


	5. Beat It

It was only the begin of September, but the weather had already began to change. The fleecy clouds that had adorned the bright, blue August sky were replaced by the dark rainclouds of September. The soft and warm breeze was now a much more colder and stronger wind blazing over the fields of Hogwarts. A chill ran over Hermione's spine, making her hug her coat closer to her body. Some fallen leaves covered the path to the Quidditch pitch.

The Trio spend the walk to the pitch in silence, all having different things on their minds. As Hermione had predicted the pitch was filled with the half of Gryffindor, the girl squeezed Harry's arm, wishing him good luck before she left to take a seat on the stands. Harry looked at the large group of students trying-out. There were first years, who looked very nervous, to seventh years, towering over the younger kids looking confident and determent.

Harry recognized some of them, like the broad looking boy who Harry had already met on the train. Thanks to Hermione they were late for Slughorn's little get together and Harry had to sit between the boy and Slughorn. The tall boy with curls stepped forward and offered his hand to Harry, "Cormac McLaggen, keeper." He said confidently, like he already won the position. Harry nodded, he made some small talk with the boy before asking him to wait on the edge of the field. McLaggen didn't seem all to happy with that but did what he was asked.

Harry started with some basic exercises to separate the wheat from the chaff. After dismissing five groups of people that just didn't cut it, Harry had three chasers. Katie Bell had her old position back, Demelza Robins, who was perfect for dodging bludgers got a spot too, and Ginny Weasley had flown better than the others and even made seventeen goals. After a lot of yelling and sticking with his choices he found two beaters, they weren't Fred and George but they were the best of the others. Now it was time to choose a keeper, the selected players went to sit on the stands for a break while the rest left the pitch.

Luckily it showed very quickly that only Ron and Cormac where suited for the position, Harry dismissed the other keepers. Ron and Cormac both flew to the goals, opposite from one another. "Good luck Ron!" Lavender Brown called out, and after she realized she had actually said it out loud she quickly clasped her hands for her mouth. Hermione who was sitting just behind the girl rolled her eyes, thinking the obvious crush of the girl was pathetic. Hermione looked at Cormac who looked awfully confident on his broom, Ron on the contrary looked a bit green. The bushy haired girl had hoped that Ron's experience on the position would give him more confidence, but unfortunately it was wishful thinking.

Harry had decided that a game would be the best way to see who was the best, and who could perform under the pressure of a game. Not that the try-out side of the whole game wasn't pressure enough.

Hermione watched in suspense as Cormac stopped four goal attempts from Ginny in a flashy fashion. Ron also stopped four goal attempts but not as confident as Cormac, and the last attempt made him fall of his broom. Harry watched intently as Demelze flew, a Quaffle in hand, to Cormac's goal posts, Ginny flew the opposite way towards Ron. As Demelze got closer to Cormac, Hermione got more and more nervous, it had meant so much for Ron. Harry felt excitement bubble up inside of him as he watched Cormac fly to the side of the goal ring thus missing the thrown Quaffle. "Come on Ron." He whispered to himself. On the stands Hermione smiled knowingly, and when Ron saved his goal attempt she clapped along with the rest of the crowd.

Harry had to stop the urge to clap along with the supporters, because he still had to tell Cormac that Ron had beaten him, unfortunately. Harry landed safely to the ground and looked around for Cormac. But the broad, tall boy was already storming up to Harry. Cormac's face was red from anger and Harry was sure that vein on his forehead could explode if it didn't stop beating. "His sister gave him an easy Quaffle," Cormac said, threatening. "My grandma could have saved it."

"That's rubbish," Harry replied somewhat cold. "That was the throw he almost missed, Ron saved more than you and that's it." To make his words more powerful Harry stepped forward. Cormac stared Harry down, and for a second he was sure Cormac was going to hit him. But the boy didn't, instead he turned around and stormed of the field. Harry watched the boy go, before calling his new team together. Taking a stand next to Hermione, who had come down from the stands, the boy clapped in his hands. "Alright everybody, congratulations to everyone. You deserved it.. And uhm, welcome to the team." Everybody started cheering, including Ginny and Demelze who were still in the air playing catch with Ron.

The cheering slowly died down however when a hooded figure flew into the pitch. With ease he intercepted the Quaffle that Ginny had thrown to Demelze. "Alright losers, time to clean up!" The figure hovered above the middle of the Quidditch pitch, the black robe came off and slowly swirled to the ground. The first thing what Hermione noticed where the colors of the Quidditch outfit that came into sight, green and silver. A Slytherin. Quinn's blond hair waved freely around her face and Hermione was captivated by it. Hermione watched as Quinn flew around the field like a pro in her green cape with matching green undershirt, her white pants fitting her perfectly and just like her normal robes Hermione presumed them to be tailored. Quinn flew flawlessly, as if it was her second nature, it slightly reminded Hermione of Harry when he flew.

So Hermione wasn't surprised that when Quinn flew towards Ron, going with a speed that looked insane, Ron couldn't save the Quaffle that was thrown at him. "Weasley cannot save a thing, he cannot block a single ring." More Slytherins joined Quinn who was floating above the central circle of the pitch again. "That's why Slytherins all sing: Weasley is our king." They all sang in unison.

Quinn descended down and landed before Harry and Hermione, Ron who was on the ground again too was walking towards his friends. Quinn stepped of her broom gracefully, Hermione noticed that it was an old Nimbus. Certainly not the fastest broom that was around these days, the bushy haired girl also thought she saw something carved into the side of the broom. The blonde girl stepped forward and bound her hair together in her infamous ponytail.

"What are you doing here Malfoy? We've still got the pitch for an hour." Harry said coldly, not liking her entrance at all.

"Oh, well that's my honest mistake Potter. Here I thought I had the pitch reserved from four till dinner. Let's have a look on this schedule would we?" Quinn took a piece of parchment out of her pants. "Wow, would you look at that! My name is on it," She pointed out her name. Hermione studied the girl, still wondering why the girl hasn't been to any of her classes. What was she doing here? Without even going to class, and what did she do during lunch?

"And on what time could that possibly be?" Quinn continued, sliding her finger across the parchment to point out the times. "I'll be damned! It says at four o'clock." Quinn pushed the paper hard on Harry's chest, looking straight into his eyes.

"So you're captain now?" Ron asked, surprised.

"Yeah, what's it to you Weasel?" Quinn replied glancing back to Ron, her eyebrow raised. Ron balled his fist, anger flushing his features. The red head opened his mouth to say something, but saw Harry shaking his head from behind the blonde girl. So Ron wisely closed his mouth again, swallowed, sniffed his nose and looked away.

"Beat it Potter." Quinn said coldly returning her attention to Harry, narrowing her eyes at the boy. Ron watching his best friend having a stare off with the scary blond witch noticed Quinn's captain badge, pinned to her chest.

Hermione watched the stand-off from a close distance, she could only hope that Harry knew when to back down. Harry glanced at her for a moment, and she gave him a small nod. Harry stepped back, stating they were leaving. Quinn nodded, before looking at Hermione. "Granger," she acknowledged the bushy haired girl and gave her a small nod. The blonde witch turned around then, stepping on her broom again, and flying away.

Harry looked at Hermione silently questioning her why she was the only one that got acknowledged in a normal way by the female Malfoy. Hermione just shrugged, not knowing either. She looked up at the sky, searching Quinn in the air but the girl was nowhere in sight. Ron grumbled something, still upset that Quinn had passed him with her shot. "Why do I have to be the Weasel King and are you just Granger." Ron sneered at Hermione.

"I don't know.. Weasel." Hermione snarled back.

Harry shook his head at his two friends, before interrupting their insulting banter. "Come on you guys, let's visit Hagrid."

"That stupid, bloody song."

* * *

Dusk had already settled when they returned from Hagrid, and the Trio hurried to be in time for dinner. Harry's stomach churned as he smelled the roast beef, but after he had stepped four steps in the direction of the Gryffindor table Professor Slughorn blocked his way. "Harry, my boy, I was looking for you!" He exclaimed happily. "I was hoping to catch you for dinner. What about a little get-together, tonight in my room? I'm having a little party, just for some upcoming stars. McLaggen will be there too, just like that boy Zabini, plus the charming Quinn Malfoy – do you know her? If I'm not mistaken, and I never am, then I believe she has the potential to become an extraordinary witch. Of course I would be delighted if Miss Granger would come along too." He made a small bow towards Hermione as he said it. It was just like Ron wasn't there, like he had magically disappeared; Slughorn didn't even spare him a glance.

Harry was quick to decline the question, stating that he had detention with Professor Snape. Slughorn, who was completely thrown off by that comment, mumbled something about talking with Snape about it. "Yes, I will see you all tonight." He said louder this time, and he left the Great Hall.

Hermione who knew Snape would never agree with that, sighed. "Oh I wish you could go. I really don't want to go alone." Hermione said concerned, and Harry knew she was thinking about McLaggen.

"Don't worry Hermione, I bet Ginny has been asked too." Ron said curtly. The trio spent most of the dinner in silence, except for Ron's angry mumbles that got muffled by the food that he stuffed into his mouth. After dinner Hermione met up with Ginny, to walk to Slughorn's little party together. When they reached the room they were welcomed by a broad smiling Slughorn.

"Miss Granger, Miss Weasley!" Slughorn exclaimed. "Come, sit, sit, please." He waved them over to a round table where the others were already seated. Ginny and Hermione picked a chair next to each other, leaving one chair free next to Hermione. The bushy haired girl looked around the table and saw that everybody was already there, except for one blonde Slytherin. A plate was set before them, and Slughorn explained it was some sort of appetizer especially made to have before the ice-cream. Hermione, who wasn't hungry, decided she would save it for Ron. The girl looked around and when she was sure nobody was paying attention to her, she put the appetizer in her purse. Later came the ice-cream, but the chair next to Hermione stayed empty.

**A/N: Thank you all for the follows and favs I appreciate it. Thank you Lol505, for your review. I'm being honest when I say I liked my original draft too, so no offence was taken ;) All my changes however are for a greater good, namely getting Quinn and Hermione together. So I hope you will stick around, to see everything unfold. I hope that all the changes will be worth it when that moment comes. Anyway, thank you for reviewing. And please, don't be afraid to give feedback. I only appreciate it **

**p.s. The next chapter will be quite short, since I had to split this chapter up in two. But it will be posted quite shortly after this one. **


	6. Thank You

"Ah Miss Malfoy, you made it at last!" Slughorn suddenly gushed out, staring at the entrance of the room. Quinn who was standing in the door opening mentally rolled her eyes, she was already regretting her decision of coming to the meeting. Everybody around the round table looked up from their ice-cream and stared at the blonde witch who had just arrived. Quinn was still partly in her Quidditch outfit, only the long robe, and the protective gear were missing. On her shirt were grass and dirt stains, and on her white pants could be spotted a red stain. Quinn plastered a tiny smile on her face, "Excuse my tardiness, I had to perfect my left handed shot." Quinn looked down at her clothes, "Also I had no time to clean up. So excuses for my appearance as well." The blonde witch excused herself, dragging a hand through her, by the wind, curled hair. She looked at the table and noticed that the only seat was free next to Hermione Granger. Quinn sighed inwardly as she made her way to the chair. The bushy haired girl eyed Quinn warily, obviously disliking Quinn's appearance judging by the disapproving look on Hermione's face.

Usually Quinn wouldn't wanted to be found dead looking the way she did, but right now she couldn't really give a fuck. Perfecting her shot had cost her a lot of energy she didn't really have to begin with, and the only thing Quinn wanted to do was sleep. But Draco had practically begged her to go, since he wasn't invited himself. What the professor saw in her, she didn't really know. The girl was eyeing the ice-cream that was standing before her on the table, and Quinn's stomach rumbled. Thanks to Quidditch Quinn had forgotten to eat dinner. She could feel Hermione's eyes on her, obviously the girl had heard her stomach. Quinn couldn't help the blood that rushed to her cheeks at the sound of her own stomach and Hermione's eyes on her, quickly she looked down at her lap. Placing a hand on her stomach to calm it down a bit, and letting her loose hair fall around her face. Hoping that Granger hadn't noticed the fact that she was indeed blushing. The girl took a few bites from her ice-cream, hoping it would settle her stomach somehow. But it only made her stomach rumble louder.

Hermione was observing the girl sitting next to her closely, she could have sworn that sound she just heard came from Quinn. Hermione watched as Quinn dropped her gaze to her lap, laying a hand on her stomach. Was she blushing? Quinn quickly took bites from her ice-cream, before looking at her lap again. Hermione now knew what she heard, it was the blonde's stomach. The poor girl was hungry. Hermione contemplated a thought for a second, not really sure if she should do it. But when Quinn's stomach rumbled again, Hermione did what she thought was right.

The bushy haired girl watched around the table, but everybody was busy listening to Zabini brag about his mom and their money, so the coast was clear. She opened her bag and took out the appetizer she had saved for Ron. The girl placed the tiny plate right in front of Quinn's ice-cream, out of sight for the rest of the group. Leaning into Quinn she started to whisper, "It's an appetizer Slughorn gave us before the ice-cream. I didn't taste it, but I believe Ginny thought it was okay." Quinn looked up from her lap, looking Hermione in the eye now. Thanks to their close proximity Hermione could see Quinn's hazel eyes perfectly, in the soft light of the room her eyes were a soft golden-green with golden spots around her pupil. Hermione thought them to be mesmerizing, if she looked closely enough she could almost see Quinn's gratefulness. But it didn't last long enough for Hermione, Quinn lowered her head to her lap again. So Quinn's curled blond hair met Hermione's sight.

"Thank you." Quinn said, in a soft tone of voice Hermione hadn't heard from the blonde before. The blonde girl didn't look up this time to meet Hermione's gaze, so the bushy haired girl leaned back in her seat again. Hermione looked around the table where everybody was oblivious to the two girls little interaction.

Professor Slughorn was interviewing the other students that were sitting at the table, Blaise Zabini's turn was up and Slughorn moved on to McLaggen. "Now, you, Cormac, I happen to know you see a lot of your Uncle Tiberius, because he has a rather splendid picture of the two of you hunting nogtails in, I think, Norfolk?"

"Oh, yeah, that was fun, that was. We went with Bertie Higgs and Rufus Scrimgeour; this was before he became Minister, obviously —" And after that Hermione tuned out. She couldn't care less about McLaggen and his uncle. When McLaggen was finally done with talking it was Ginny's turn, they talked about her grades and classes and moved on again to Hermione who had the same topics.

When it was Quinn's turn there was nothing left of the girl's smile she had when they had talked. Her sundae had been untouched besides a few bites and the scowl that she wore couldn't be missed. But Slughorn, pretending that there wasn't a huge scowl adoring Quinn's face, began to ask her questions. "Miss Malfoy, I'm sure that I speak for everybody here when I say I would like to know where you are from."

Quinn gritted her teeth, "America." She answered shortly.

"Ah. We have an American in our midst, wonderful." Slughorn exclaimed and Hermione thought he had to suppress the urge to clap in his hands. Quinn rolled her eyes. "Tell us Miss, which school did you attend to?"

"The Salem Witches' Institute. Sir." Hermione couldn't hold back the small grin that came up when she heard the mockingly way Quinn said sir.

Slughorn not noticing it, nodded, "Fascinating, fascinating. When did you do the O.W.L.S.? You have an Outstanding for every subject but one, this is very admirable Miss Malfoy, congratulations." Hermione was sure she didn't hear it correctly, Outstanding? For every subject? Except for one? She was the only student that received those grades.

"Why thank you Sir, that means a lot to me." Quinn mocked, and Slughorn grinned. "I actually did them in the summer vacation."

"Now that is dedication, very good. May I ask what the reason was behind your transfer?"

Quinn stayed silent. And right before Slughorn wanted to repeat the question she answered: "Family business." She didn't mock, her tone wasn't cold, there was absolutely no emotion in her voice. A shiver ran over Hermione's spine, nobody should ever sound like that.

* * *

Hermione had been waiting to do this, because she was one of the prefects this year she was allowed to use the prefects bathroom. Always the curious one Hermione couldn't wait to see the Prefect's bathroom for herself, and finally she had some free time for herself. Slughorn's party ended rather quickly after Quinn's little revelations, so Hermione and Ginny left earlier than the bushy haired girl had predicted.

Barely containing her excitement, the girl said the password that she had received from McGonagall. When the big door swung open, a jolt of happiness coursed through her. When Hermione stepped through the opening, the door automatically closed behind her and gave Hermione quite a fright. She laughed quietly to herself about her antics and shook her head.

The sound of someone softly singing carried through the bathroom, the high ceilings creating the perfect acoustics. The song was oddly familiar to Hermione but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Hermione could hear the taps of the bath running and water flowing, "Hello? Is someone there?" Hermione asked tentatively.

Immediately the singing stopped and the taps were no longer running. "Oh no, I'm sorry! It wasn't my intention to disturb you, please, I'll leave." Hermione called out, afraid that she had scared the person. It remained silent. "Hellooo..?" Hermione called out again but there was still no sound whatsoever. The bushy haired girl walked further into the bathroom until she had reached the bath.

It was empty but there was a bottle of expensive looking soap still standing on the edge of the tub and a trail of footsteps that led to the toilet stalls. Hermione heard the door open and close again and briefly wondered why the person didn't hear her enter the bathroom. Hermione started to fill the tub with water which surprisingly went very quickly, she waited a few moments concentrating on the sound of the door. When she was confident there was no one besides her in the bathroom she discarded the white robe she was wearing and stepped into the water.

Hermione let herself sink in the tub and immediately felt herself relax. She just floated for a while, enjoying the hot water and the peace of the bathroom. But when Hermione spread her arms to put on the edge of the large tub, she forgot that the bottle of soap was standing on it. The bottle wobbled a bit before it fell into the water, a rich amount of soap flowed out of its bottle and soon the scent of vanilla and peach wafted through the air. Quickly Hermione grabbed the bottle and put it back on the edge of the tub, but the half of the light pink liquid was already floating on the water surface. The bushy haired girl watched as the soap started to dissolve in the water, knowing that there was nothing she could do about it anymore Hermione let herself relax again in the water, surrounded by the sweet scent of vanilla and peach.

**A/N: Sorry you guys, something went wrong and FF didn't post the bathroom scene. So here it is ;) **

**To Anna, first of all I'm glad you're glad I'm back. I'm quite glad with that myself. Thank you for your review, and know that no offence was taken. I'm sorry that you liked Quinn better in IDHY. I'm a big fan of my Quinn in IDHY myself, but again. The changes made in Quinn's persona and the overall story have been made for the greater good.. I can only say that I hope you will stick around, because I'm coming to the point where I'm done with all of my changes and all the chapters will be filled with brand new situations and scenes again. Thanks again, and I hope you and everybody else is still enjoying this story. Please don't be afraid to leave feedback!**


	7. Alice in Wonderland

Hermione found herself lying awake later that night. The bath she took in the prefects bathroom left her feeling relaxed, but somehow Hermione couldn't fall asleep. For what felt like the millionth time that night, Hermione smelled at her arm and let out a content sigh. The scent of the perfumed soap still lingered on her skin. The sweet smell of vanilla and peaches surrounded Hermione with an halo of, what felt like, pure bliss.

The bushy haired girl wondered who the soap belonged too, and if they would mind that she kind of borrowed it. Obviously the prefects were the first persons on her 'Vanilla Peach Soap Search' list, but she knew for a fact that the prefects would often slip the person to their friend and whatnot. Hermione huffed unconsciously at their lack of obeying the rules. Inhaling the scent once more, Hermione closed her eyes and let her mind wander away.

A pair of hazel eyes were looking at Hermione, the eyes were a more softer brown than green. But if you looked closely enough you could still see the light green tone, just lying beneath the softer brown. The eyes looked playfully at Hermione, eyebrows raised in a teasing matter. Next a set of pink, plump lips came into Hermione sight. The corners of the mouth lifted in a soft, and sweet looking smile, showing off a little bit of the persons first teeth.

The eyes weren't looking at her anyore, instead they were looking away in a somewhat shy manner. The person turned its head away from Hermione, giving Hermione view to the person's long, curling blonde hair that fell down in waves. A tongue darted out from the, judging by the person's hair, girl's lips, swiping across the bottom lip. Hermione watched intently as the girl wetted her lips, which for Hermione ended way too soon. The girl raised a hand to her face, successfully striking most of the blonde hair behind her ear.

Keeping her hand there, the girl's smile grew, exposing a row of straight teeth. Hazel eyes found Hermione's ones for a few seconds, before they looked shyly away again. The girl exposed cheek was a rosy color, and seemed to get darker every second that passed by. The girl lowered her hand, causing a few strands to escape from behind her ear. Like Hermione was on auto-pilot, she raised her own hand, and swept the strands from the girl's face, leaving it there. It was like the bushy haired girl was drawn to the blonde, like an invisible force was pulling her towards the girl.

The blonde was looking at her again, her eyes having changed color. They were now a smoldering green, with a soft golden glow around the girl's iris. Hermione found them to be hypnotizing, and couldn't possibly look away. Unconsciously the bushy haired girl moved closer to the blonde, never breaking eye contact. This time it was Hermione who had to wet her lips, they, along with her throat, were suddenly feeling very dry. Without noticing Hermione had moved so close, her feet were touching the girl's and she swore she could feel the girl's breath on her face.

Hermione moved her hand from the girl's face to the back of her neck, resting her forehead against the blonde's. Their breaths were intertwining, and because of their close proximity their lips brushed against each other. Hermione gasped, "Quinn." Was whispered into the night, almost inaudible.

* * *

The next morning wasn't quite the same as any other morning, Harry had noticed. The boy was reading his potion book as usual, not really paying much attention to his friends or his food for that matter. But when he wanted to share a detail in the book, Harry noticed something strange. Hermione was staring into space, her breakfast have been left untouched even though she often reprimanded Harry for not eating his. Ron, who usually encouraged Harry to try out the spells in the book, was also not paying attention. Lavender was sitting a few seats further, making googly eyes at Ron as usual. Only this time when she waved to gain Ron's attention, the red head waved back before returning to his meal. Lavender turned beet red, and stared down at her plate, often sneaking glances to the red head.

Harry shook his head, closed his book and got ready for his first class. "Hermione, will you still go to the library before our Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson this afternoon?" Harry asked his best friend. "Hermione?" He asked once again when he didn't get a response.

Hermione looked up at Harry, "I'm sorry Harry, were you saying something?"

Harry furrowed his brow, "I was asking if you were still going to the library before our Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson." He repeated. Hermione just nodded absentmindedly, before grabbing her stuff and leaving for class without saying anything. Harry watched her go, before he made his way to his own class, dragging Ron away from his plate.

* * *

Hermione sighed, all day long she had been having problems with concentrating on her lessons. Ancient Runes was a drama, just as Herbology which she took with Harry who just kept looking at her like she was crazy. The bushy haired girl had some free time now before her last class of the day started, and she wasn't particularly looking forward to battle a Slytherin, or seeing one for that matter. So the bushy haired girl went to the only place she could find peace, the library. Hermione had this particular spot that nobody else seemed to know, and over the years it had become her sanctuary. The place where she could escape from all the crazy that always seemed to surround her, or more likely Harry.

Hermione's sanctuary was nothing more than a table at the back of the east corner of the library, that was always empty. First Hermione collected all the books she could find about historical magical people, in the hope of finding more information about Qui.. Malfoy's cousin. When the bushy haired girl deemed six books to be enough, she walked to her spot. Hermione was baffled however when there, on her chair, was already sitting somebody. A certain somebody with long blonde hair and an excellent, straight pose, Quinn Malfoy was sitting on _her_ chair. The blonde witch was reading a book, and didn't seem to notice Hermione's presence.

Hermione could hear the pages being turned and briefly she wondered what kind of books the cold, hard Slytherin would read. Maybe spell books to learn more spells? Like spells that could burn somebody badly and made them sizzle.. Or the girl might be into fiction.. Hermione got lost in her imagination, not noticing that she kept on staring at the Slytherin girl.

"I know I'm smokin' Granger, but if you keep up the staring I might be tempted to throw a book at you. Either sit down or beat it." The voice of the blonde girl said, breaking Hermione's train of thought. Quinn hadn't moved and Hermione could still hear the pages being turned, how did she know that Hermione was staring, no. Hermione corrected herself, she wasn't staring, she was merely looking. A wave with the book that Quinn was holding was the thing that Hermione set in motion, she cautiously walked around the table. The bushy haired girl still wasn't sure if she had heard correctly, and she was sure her best friends would disapprove of her sitting with the blonde. But really, how bad could it be to just sit down, just this once. Hermione eyed Quinn, who was still reading her book, and wasn't paying attention to the bushy haired girl antics. Hermione hesitated to grab the chair, "So I can sit down?" She asked again, just to make sure.

The Slytherin merely gave her a shrug. "It's a free world Granger." Hermione sat down, but still wasn't so sure what to do next. It was as if she was a compass, and Quinn a magnet. The bushy haired girl had no idea how to act around the blonde witch, mostly because she had no idea what she could expect from the girl. What if the rumor was true? She asked herself, but quickly got rid of that thought. Hermione still didn't believe it, and she wasn't planning on starting to believe it either. The bushy haired girl glanced over to the blonde girl, who just kept on reading. "Goshawk's Guide to Herbology" Hermione read from the book. Herbology? The Slytherin who everybody feared was reading about Herbology? Hermione had a hard time believing it, it certainly didn't suite the girl.

Hermione finally opened up her own books, to follow Quinn's lead and actually do some reading. But the bushy haired girl soon found out that she couldn't concentrate on the words written down with Quinn just a meter away from her. She couldn't shake the feeling that this was so wrong, but also that it felt awfully pleasant to have company. After she had read the first sentence for what felt like the millionth time Hermione gave up. Quinn was still calmly turning her pages and somehow it disturbed Hermione, was she always this quiet? Hermione couldn't even hear the girl breathing while she was sure hers sounded like a chainsaw in the silence.

"What are you reading?" Hermione asked, after a while. Mentally slapping herself after it for that stupid question. The Slytherin didn't look up, she simply raised her eyebrow. "You read that after the first five seconds you sat down, before questioning yourself why I would read a book about Herbology."

Hermione instantly huffed, "No I didn't."

Quinn eyebrow rose higher, but her eyes were still fixated on her book. "Oh yes you did Granger, don't even try to deny it."

"No I did not!" Hermione insisted, lying through her teeth. But there was no way she was going to admit that Quinn was right.

"Sure Granger, let's just agree to disagree, shall we?" Quinn replied, looking over her book at the bushy haired girl

Hermione crossed her arms, "It wouldn't kill you to say my first name, you know." Hermione knew she was only picking a fight right now, but she couldn't just lose an argument to Quinn. She just couldn't.

Quinn narrowed her eyes at Hermione's hostile tone, "No, but maybe your presence does." Quinn snapped.

"You said yourself I could sit down!" Hermione exclaimed, "Why don't you just hex me then, and go be evil with Draco." The girl continued.

Hermione didn't know if it was the hexing part or the Draco part that triggered Quinn's rage but the situation escalated majorly. The blonde girl flew up so quickly that her chair fell backwards, and landed with a loud thud. Quinn usual hazel and cold eyes were now a dark brown and blazing. The blonde witch placed her hands on the table before bowing over it. She looked Hermione straight in the eye and Hermione swallowed at how their faces were suddenly so close. It reminded her of the dream she had, the dream she woke up from sweating, and panting. "Don't think you know me, or my family, mudblood." Quinn spoke slowly, her words were deliberate and her tone cold. And they stung. Hermione hadn't anticipated that it would hurt, but Quinn words did.

Quinn walked away after it. Slowly and again deliberate, like she was calculating where every next step should be. Hermione was left speechless, staring at the departing girl. Hermione didn't know how long it took before she could actually move again, she glanced down at her books. Sighing, and closing them, she noticed Quinn's book. The girl had left it when she walked away, there was something odd about it though. When Hermione took a closer look, she saw there was another book on top of the Herbology book. Looking around to see if nobody was there, and to see if Quinn hadn't decided to return, Hermione grabbed the upper book. It was old, the color of the pages had faded to a soft yellow, and the cover was tattered, and a dark green colored with gold letters. "Alice in Wonderland." The title read, thanks to Hermione's Muggle parents Hermione knew the book all to well. The weirdest thing, it was a Muggle book, and not one that was popular to be read among wizards and witches. How would a pure blood know about a Muggle book?

Hermione opened it up on the first page, where in fine penmanship "Lucy Fabray" was written. Hermione racked her brain, but she had never heard of the name before. Again Hermione looked around again to see if nobody was watching her, before she let the little book slide into her book bag. She made another check to be sure, and when the coast was clear, she set off to the library's exit.

**A/N: Hey you guys, sorry for the long wait. But here it finally is :) I really hope it was worth the long wait, since I worked hard on it. **

**Further I would like to thank you Char, for your review. You have no idea what it means for me to know that I can make your day better, and you telling me that totally makes my day better. And it was what I needed to get me out of an insecurity rush again, so thank you. **


	8. Bombarda

Hermione left the library in a hurry, the bell had already rung and she only had 5 minutes to get to The Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Not really being her usually observing self in her "I'm-going-to-be-late-for-class-I-might-get-expelled" panic rush, Hermione bumped into somebody, the books she had lent out falling to the ground.

Immediately Hermione sunk to her knees to pick up her books, "I'm sorry." She apologized shortly, dusting of her knees with one hand while holding the books in her other. When the bushy haired girl looked up, she gasped, and her books fell once again to the ground. Hermione was looking in the face of Pansy Parkinson. The girls face was covered in big green, white, nasty looking pimples. The girl eyes went big and she quickly looked down to the ground, and without threatening or insulting Hermione, Pansy quickly brushed past the bushy haired girl.

The bushy haired girl wasn't really sure how she eventually ended up at the classroom, she wasn't really sure of anything anymore. Hermione hadn't believed that rumor, she was sure Quinn wouldn't do something like that. But what if she would? That would mean that Hermione was wrong, and she was almost never wrong. Like almost never ever. Still, the bushy haired girl just literally bumped into the evidence. Hermione shook her head, trying to get rid of the disgusting image, it certainly wasn't pretty, even for somebody with a strong stomach like herself.

"Miss Granger," Snape called out, as he stepped into the dim light that came through the curtain covered windows. "You're late." He stated, smiling in a way that told Hermione she was in trouble. "That's 5 points from Gryffindor." Hermione groaned, along with her fellow Gryffindors. The bushy haired girl had spotted Harry looking at her with sympathy, he and Ron were standing at the right end of the dueling stage that had replaced the normal stools and desks. "And detention." Snape added, with a smile. "Sir. I highly doubt –"

"I highly doubt you weren't going to end that sentence with a new way of how I should run my class." Snape interrupted her coolly. Hermione opened up her mouth to protest, but decided against it. "Five more points from Gryffindor for being an insufferable know-it-all." Hermione nodded, being used to Snape's disliking towards her. The witch makes her way towards her best friends, getting random glares from some of her fellow classmates. Probably because she just cost them that damn house cup, Hermione was used to those glares too. The bushy haired girl glanced towards the opposite side, where Quinn and Draco were standing with the rest of the 6th years of Slytherin.

"I understand that for some of you it might still be a mystery why there is a dueling stage in the classroom," Snape began his explanation. Hermione looked at Quinn who was standing with her arms crossed, and her head was turned away from Snape. Except for Draco, who was standing next to his blonde cousin, the other Slytherins seemed to stand a few feet away from the Malfoy's. The image of Pansy's face came into her mind once again, and Hermione felt herself get nauseous. "We'll be doing these duels in silence, and I decide who duels who. Potter, Draco. You start." Snape ended his explanation.

"Be careful Harry, and remember to concentrate and visualize." Hermione said, concerned. She knew Harry had a great deal of trouble with nonverbal spells, and she had no idea how well Draco performed on the subject. Hermione squeezed Harry's arm for the last time to give him some extra courage, and she saw Quinn do the same with Draco as the blonde witch whispered something into his ear.

From across the stage Draco got ready to get on it, but his cousin stopped him. "Don't attack too much, never underestimate the power of defense." Quinn whispered in his ear, and squeezed his arm. "Hothead." The blonde girl added teasingly. "You can do it Draco, just do your best." Quinn finished, more softly, and with a smile.

The blonde witch watched Draco climb up on the stage, and draw his wand. Harry slightly nodded as a bow, and so did Draco. When Snape gave the starting signal, Draco instantly fired of an hex in Harry's direction. Quinn shook her head and sighed, bringing her right hand to her forehead, placing her middle finger and thumb on her eyebrows.

On the opposite side, Hermione's hand shot up to her mouth as she saw Harry staggering backwards from deflecting Draco's powerful first hex. Once Harry recollected his balance, he fired off a spell, which caused Draco to take a few steps back. What followed was a continuation of going back and forth with spells, Draco would shoot a hex to Harry, who would deflect it, and shoot one back, making Draco deflect it, and then the circle was round again.

Hermione saw that Harry was having trouble to keep up, and he was making that face what he himself called the U-No-Poo face, a product that comes from Fred and George that causes constipation. "Expelliarmus!" Harry called out, with success. Draco's wand flew out of his hand, falling down a few feet away from him. Harry still had his wand drawn, and was still pointing it at Draco. The blonde guy straightened up a bit, panting from exertion he looked Harry dead in the eye.

"That's enough." Boomed through the classroom. Snape appeared on the stage, breaking up the silent exchange between Harry and Draco. "10 points for Slytherin, for winning the duel. I'm not sure if you got the meaning of the word nonverbal, Potter. But it doesn't involve screaming out your spells." Snape spat. Both the boys went back to their respective places, Harry in between Ron and Hermione, and Draco next to Quinn.

"Now for the next duel.." Snape trailed off, seemingly thinking something through. "Miss Malfoy, would you be so kind to join me upon the stage." Quinn got up on the dueling stage, sending Draco a reassuring smile along the way, before wiping it of her face again. Standing higher than the rest, Quinn looked down upon them. Hermione thought the blonde with looked very intimidating with her cold eyes, that scanned the people on the ground like they were just peasants compared to her.

"Might there be a volunteer to duel against Quinn?" Snape said, scanning his students. But everybody was looking at the ground, and some had even taken a few steps closer to the door, ready to bolt out if they needed too. Quinn grinned wickedly, and on Snape's face appeared a sly smile. "Perhaps you could learn know-it-all Granger, that she doesn't know everything." Hermione swallowed.

Did she really have to duel Quinn? After what she had seen. A lump got stuck in her throat, so she desperately swallowed again. The bushy haired girl felt Harry's hand on her shoulder, and the witch balled her fist. Hermione wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing, she had courage. Or so they told her. Hermione on the other hand was thinking why she hadn't picked Ravenclaw.

Hermione climbed upon the stage, after Snape threatened to take away 5 house points again, the glares she received was what set her into motion. Quinn had already drawn her wand, and it was the first time that Hermione saw it. It was a deep red, brownish color, so as far as Hermione knew of wands, she presumed it to be rosewood. It looked to be around 10 inches, and the handle was elegantly carved, like Quinn herself.

A little bit shaky, Hermione grabbed her own wand, but willed her hand to still before she draw it. The bushy haired girl walked closer to the blonde, for the bow. She wasn't expecting however that the girl would actually bow, especially not for a muggleborn like herself. When they got back up, she could see the girl's fire in her eyes. "I'm not afraid of you." Hermione said, firmly. A feeling of strength washed over Hermione, she was a Gryffindor, and she was going to show it too.

"Oh yeah? Let's see what we can do about that." Quinn answered, narrowing her eyes at the girl before her. The blonde witch took a few steps back and pointed her wand at the girl before her, and waited. Hermione attacked quickly and with ease. Quinn had to block multiple spells at once. Quinn herself shot a hex once in a while at Hermione, but it was nothing major, it had no power. And it was annoying Hermione, who was firing one hex after the another. But all got blocked by Quinn.

Hermione spells got more powerful by the minute as the duel carried on. Harry and Ron watched as Hermione fired off every spell she knew, getting more frantic with each one. Quinn grinned as she watched Hermione get angrier and angrier, feeding her spells more power, losing herself more into them. Quinn was quite enjoying seeing Hermione lose it, it was potions all over again.

Hermione, in her frenzy, created a pattern off spells. Disarming, hex, charm, jinx, bombarda. It didn't took Quinn long to figure it out, feeling the different spells ricochet of her wand, knowing which spells felt like what. Quinn waited patiently, blocking spells right and left. The blonde witch saw that Hermione was getting tired, so she fired her bait. A lame excuse of a jinx, it had no power what so ever, and it wouldn't even cause some damage. But it did the trick Quinn wanted it to do.

Hermione flared up as she blocked Quinn's spell with ease, the girl wasn't even trying her best! Anger roared inside of the girl, and with one final power burst, Hermione shot off her Bombarda. Quinn smiled at Hermione, and Hermione could already see the fact that she had lost in the other girl's eyes. A heavy explosion took place right in front Hermione. A loud boom resonated off the walls, and the shockwaves send the know-it-all flying back into the stone wall of the classroom. The last thing Hermione saw before everything went black was Quinn's face, her eyes were wide, fear present in them, her mouth was open, and she looked like she was ready to have a panic attack.

Instead of blocking the powerful spell like she did with the spells before, Quinn deflected it, sending it right back to Hermione. Resulting in the powerful blast it had created right in front of the bushy haired girl. Hermione was laying with her back against the wall, making her sit upright in a weird and unnatural position. Snape sent everybody back, and dismissed class. Quinn who had not been able the move, let her wand slip in between her numb fingers. The blonde girl could hear her name being called, but it seemed like miles away.

Draco came into Quinn's view, standing before her. Talking to her. But all that Quinn could see was his mouth move, she didn't hear a sound besides the awfully high pitch that seemed to be stuck in her ear. The blonde witch saw Harry and Ron standing behind Snape, yelling at the black haired teacher with their faces red. And Hermione was still lying there, like a rag doll, with no life. "Quinn!" Draco yelled, trying to get his cousin's attention. The girl's eyes were wide, and her pupils were blown. The boy wasn't unfamiliar with this. Draco had seen it a view times before, but that didn't make him an expert on what to do.

"Quinn!" The blonde haired boy tried once again, Quinn's eyes moved to him. Finally. "Let's go." He said shortly, so she would understand. He waited until she slowly nodded her head, grabbed her hand, and tugged her softly away from the stage. Draco wrapped his hand around Quinn's waist as he helped her down the little steps from the stage. They left like that, leaving the havoc behind them.

**A/N: Here you go guys.. I looked forward to this scene a lot, so I hoped you guys liked it =) Don't be afraid to leave feedback, I would love to read and answer it!**


	9. You Are Absolutely Beautiful

Hermione's head was feeling fuzzy, and she had a hard time focusing her eyes for a while. Darkness was surrounding the girl. "Hermione." Harry, her best friend was standing a few feet away from her. Waving at her.

"Harry!" Hermione called back, happy to see a familiar face in the darkness, she made a few steps towards the smiling, brown haired boy. But it only made the boy look further away. When the bushy haired girl blinked, Harry was gone. "No! Harry! Come back! Please.." But her plea just turned into an echo, and Hermione was alone again.

"What's wrong 'Mione?" Hermione heard this time behind her, instantly smiling when she heard the nickname.

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed happily as she turned around. But her smile disappeared quickly, Ron's arm was around the waist of Lavender, and hers was around his. "What's wrong 'Mione?" Ron repeated his question, his face and voice void of emotion.

"N-nothing." Hermione barely got out, her throat closing up, the feeling of suffocation washing over her. Ron's facial expression changed to anger. "Yes there is, you're just jealous! Be jealous, nobody will ever be yours! You're just an annoying little know-it-all, no sane person could ever be with you! Nobody even wants you! You're just a pathetic-"

"Stop!" Hermione screamed out, covering her ears, tears rolling down her cheeks. Hermione let herself fall down on her knees and hands, sobbing. Ron's harsh speech had stopped, but the words were still echoing in her head. "Stop, please stop." The girl whispered, shaking her head, her tears falling down on the ground.

"Why are you crying?" A soft voice asked, with a worried undertone. Hermione looked up, Quinn was standing before her. The witch's blonde hair was down, and her brows are scrunched up in confusion. Like Quinn genuinely doesn't know why the bushy haired girl is crying. Hermione let out a sob, her face covered in tears.

The girl's heart was aching, like a piece had been ripped from it, and it had been stamped on and just thrown away. Another wave of tears came up, quickly wetting her cheeks again. "I'm not.. Nobody.." Hermione started, angrily wiping her tears away, but they just kept on coming. "Nobody will.. they will never l-love me.." Hermione got out in between her sobs. "I'm never going to be good enough!" The bushy haired girl exclaimed angrily, hitting the ground with her fist before she broke down in sobs again.

Quinn kneeled before Hermione, getting on eye-level, she tilted up the bushy haired girl head by her chin. Quinn scanned Hermione's face, taking in every little hair, every freckle, taking in everything. Hazel met brown, and Hermione got lost in the swirling green with gold flakes. "You're absolutely beautiful." Quinn whispered, quickly raking her eyes over Hermione's face, before returning to the girl's eyes again. Quinn's eyes radiated love, and Hermione would lie if she said she couldn't see the truth and admiration shine through . Quinn cradled Hermione's face in the palm of her hand, "So beautiful."

Quinn's eyes shifted away from Hermione's, down to the girls lips, before looking into her eyes again. Almost asking for permission. The blonde witch wiped away the bushy haired girl's tears, caressing the girl's cheek while doing so. Hermione leaned a little more forward, while Quinn did the same. Again Quinn's eyes traveled from Hermione's to the girls lips, before she closed the small gap between their faces and softly placed her lips upon Hermione's. Quinn kissed her tenderly, lovingly, and when Hermione closed her eyes the only thing she could see were stars.

It may just have been a few seconds until Quinn released Hermione's lips, but for the bushy haired girl it felt like a century. The feeling was magical, and she had never felt anything like that in her life. The warmth spreading through your body, that funny feeling in your stomach, the way you feel like an electric current is flowing through your limps, and how when you stop, you get surrounded by a warm glow that makes you feel all kinds of happy inside.

"Wake up."

Two cold, hazel eyes were staring at the bushy haired girl.

"Wake up Hermione."

* * *

Hermione's eyelids fluttered open lazily. The girl's head was throbbing. Hermione looked around, but shapes and colors were flowing into each other creating one big blur. Deciding to return to her safe darkness, Hermione closed her eyes again. Slowly the image of a blonde, hazel eyed girl got formed before Hermione's eyes. The bushy haired girl's heart started to pick up its pace. The girl brought a trembling hand up to her lips, and tentatively traced the soft tissue, releasing a flow of little electric sparks.

"Hermione, are you alright?" The sound is foreign, and seems far away to Hermione. The girl slowly opened her eyes again, blinking through the harsh light. Squinting, Hermione looked up confusedly, where she saw a shadow hovering over her but she couldn't quite make out the face. Letting her eyes get used of the lighting, the face got more and more recognizable. The first thing she recognized were the round, black glasses, reflecting the light coming from the tip of a wand.

"Harry?" Hermione's her voice croaked as she spoke, her throat feeling awfully dry. The girl tilted her head away from the light, a sharp sting of pain shooting through it at the small movement. The wand got lowered. Harry's face got more visible, and Hermione could see the worry that was etched on the boy's face.

"How are you feeling?" Harry whispered softly, standing next to Hermione's hospital bed. Hermione looked around her, the girl was laying in the far right corner of the hospital wing. It was dark out, and the large ward was only being illuminated by the light streaming through the big, arch formed windows. Realizing something, Hermione focused on Harry. "I didn't miss any classes, did I?" Hermione asked, confused. The girl's thoughts were a haze, and she had no idea what time it was.

Harry chuckled at Hermione's question, "No you didn't, it's 5 am. You've been unconscious since 4 pm. You hit your head pretty hard, and Madam Pomfrey had to fix two of your ribs." Harry explained. Hermione had a hard time grasping it, she just had a big headache, sure she couldn't remember all the details of what happened, but she was totally fine.

"Where's Ron?" Hermione asked, it seemed like the red head wasn't here and for some reason it pulled at the girl's heart. Harry took a step aside, revealing Ron sleeping on a chair. The red head's head was leaning on his shoulder as he was sprawled out on the uncomfortable looking chair. "How long has he been sleeping?" The girl asked, glad the boy was here even though he was asleep.

"A Miss Granger, I see we are already enjoying some company." Dumbledore stepped into the light, the older man was holding a box of candy and wore a grin on his face. Harry looked guiltily at the ground, subtly he took a step back successfully blocking the sleeping red head out of view. With his arms behind his back, Harry slapped Ron a few times before the red head shot up.

" 'Mione, you're awake!" The boy exclaimed, standing up, but when Ron saw his headmaster standing right next to him his mouth formed a small 'o' and looked, like Harry, to the ground.

"You broke the rules!?" Hermione hissed at Harry, while she thought it was incredibility sweet the boys risked detention for her, she still found it a stupid idea.

"If I may," Dumbledore spoke up, laying the box of candy on Hermione's bedside table. "I would propose that Harry and Ron came in with Harry's invisibility cloak, and you left before I saw you two." Dumbledore finished his plan, with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Both of the boys nodded fast, not wanting any detention next to their normal busy work load.

"Take care Hermione, we'll see you soon again." Harry smiled softly.

Ron leaned over eyeing Dumbledore's box of candy, "Save some for me, will ya 'Mione?" He shot the girl a lopsided grin and strutted away after his best friend. With both of the boys leaving, the headmaster went to sit on the edge of Hermione's bed.

The headmaster shot her a smile, "You received quite the blow Miss Granger, the staff and I discussed your condition and we decided to clear you from all your classes for the day. Madame Pomfrey's advice was for you to rest."

"But Sir!" Hermione perked up, protesting, but immediately fell back when a sharp sting shot through her head.

Dumbledore raised his hand, preventing the stubborn girl from getting up again. "There is no need to protest Hermione, you'll be count as present. Your health is our concern here, and it's important we give your body enough time to heal." Dumbledore ended Hermione's short protest. "And we all secretly know you don't need the lessons to understand the material." The headmaster added with a knowing smile.

The bushy haired girl blushed at the compliment, "Thank you sir." Dumbledore nodded, and patted Hermione's knee before getting up. "I don't have to stay do I? Ever since the whole cat incident, I'm not really fond of the hospital wing." Hermione asked, nervously, the wing already creeping her out.

"I'm sure I could arrange something with Madam Pomfrey, just rest for now. Take care Miss Granger, bye bye." Dumbledore said. The headmaster sent another smile towards the bushy haired girl, and Hermione watched as he left the hospital wing. Hermione settled back in the bed, trying to get as comfortable as was possible for her, she closed her eyes. It didn't took long before Hermione felt herself relax as sleep washed over her, slowly the girl slipped once again off into darkness.

* * *

"Miss Granger!" Madam Pomfrey rushed out of her office as she saw the young girl trying to sneak out of the ward. Hermione cursed herself, she knew she had to pick the fast approach instead of hoping the Matron wouldn't notice it if she just sneaked out carefully. Hermione turned around with a smile.

"Madam Pomfrey, I'm totally fine." The bushy haired girl tried to convince the stern looking Matron.

"I insist Miss Granger on you staying a little while longer."

"But Dumbledore said I could leave, I just don't have to attend any classes." Hermione pleaded, hoping her headmaster had talked to the woman.

"Your body needs rest miss Granger."

Hermione took a few steps towards the door, nodding along with what the Matron was saying.

"I know that Madam, but I feel perfectly fine. But I really must go, I'll make sure to rest in my room as much as I need." Hermione said, quickly stepping out of the door opening before turning around and walking away.

"Miss Granger!" The busy haired girl heard Madame Pomfrey call out, seemingly not happy with the girl. The high sound made Hermione wince as it pierced through her brain. When Hermione rounded the corner, she stopped for a second, her breath coming out in pants and her head was throbbing. Hermione knew she had said she would rest in her room, but there was a big change there would be other girls there, having first period off. The girl already knew where she was going, where she would find the rest she desired.

* * *

It was getting colder as September was slowly making place for October. The trio's annual trip to Hogsmeade before the Christmas vacation was getting closer, and as Hermione watched the grey clouds she was sure there would be snow. Hermione hugged her coat closer to her body, and walked the seashell path leading to the black lake. The girl walked through the familiar clearing to the large oak tree, the trunk of the tree was big enough to shelter you from the cold wind, and the lowest branches that were hanging a bit gave you the comfortable feeling of seclusion.

Hermione sat down with a sigh, just taking in the gorgeous view before her for a view minutes. It never ceased to amaze her how beautiful it could be. When Hermione felt relaxed enough, she leaned against the trunk of the tree, and put her bag on her knees. She rummaged around in it for a bit, before pulling out the thing she was looking for.

Hermione caressed the battered outside of the little green book for a second, reminiscing her own old books and how much they meant to her. The girl put her bag aside, and opened up the little book. Her finger trailed over the fine penmanship of the name; Lucy Fabray. Wondering who the girl was, and what her story could be. Was she a witch? Or a Muggle? And how did Quinn get her hands on this?

Hermione flipped the first page, curious to learn the book from the inside out. "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll." Was typed out in the middle, at the top of the next page. The text was in italics and the typing seemed very old, Hermione already loved the feel of it. "With forty-two illustrations by John Tenniel." It read, a little under Lewis Carroll. But the most interesting part was at the bottom, typed out in a smaller font it said; "New York. Macmillan & Co. 1888."

1888. Of course, Hermione had held even older books in the library of Hogwarts but those were magical books, easy to preserve from any aging or damaging. But this. This came from America, this was a Muggle book. Astounded, Hermione couldn't really do anything but stare at the number. Her conscious was fighting her, wondering if it would be a good idea to read a book that old. Finally curiosity won the battle, and Hermione turned to next page. Seeing that this was where the story began, Hermione observed the drawn picture of a rabbit looking at his pocket watch, before she started reading.

"Are you liking the story?" Hermione let out a yelp, as her heart beat in her throat.

"Quinn!" The girl exclaimed, as she scrambled up from her seat. Hermione had no idea how much time had passed, she was too engrossed in her story to notice that Quinn had been standing next to her for a good 5 minutes, contemplating on what to do. The sudden movement left Hermione dizzy, and everything was spinning before her eyes. The bushy haired girl felt her limbs get weak, her knees were starting to give out from under her, but before they failed on her completely Quinn was by her side. The blonde's arms were wrapped around Hermione's waist holding the girl upright.

"Whoa, take it easy Granger. Don't hurt yourself now." Quinn said softly into Hermione's ear, sounding startled. Quinn's head was on Hermione's shoulder, her lips close to the girl's ear, Quinn's warm breath causing goose bumps to erupt in Hermione's neck. Hermione closed her eyes, trying to fight the blackness that was creeping up. After a while the pounding in Hermione's head got less and the blackness subsided. "Are you alright?" The girl heard Quinn ask, concern present.

Hermione suppressed the urge to nod, and just said an uncertain yes. Quinn released the tight grip she had on Hermione's waist, but took a hold of the girls wrists just in case. Hermione put pressure on her legs again, trying as best she could to ignore the way her heart began demanding to make its presence known with a ridiculous and annoyingly rapid thudding when Quinn's slender fingers curled around her wrists.

Hermione pulled her hands away, wanting to stop this nonsense of her heart beating like a crazy man on drums. The girl didn't look Quinn in the eyes. Misinterpreting Hermione's actions as fear, Quinn shamefully took a step back, stepping out of Hermione's personal space. "Thank you." Hermione whispered, barely loud enough for Quinn to hear. But Quinn nodded, trying to seek Hermione's eyes, but the girl stubbornly continued to look at the ground.

"Are you alright?" Quinn asked again, concern lacing the blonde's voice. But Hermione didn't answer her. Quinn took a hold of the bushy haired girl's wrist again, forcing Hermione to look at her.

"I- I have to go." Hermione said when her eyes met Quinn's and her heart started its rapid thudding again. Quickly she moved away from Quinn, grabbing her bag, she decided to leave the book behind and quickly followed the shell-path back to Castle. Hermione heard Quinn yell out wait, and the footsteps catching up with her. The bushy haired girl turned around to face Quinn with tears in her eyes that were threatening to fall, "please don't follow me." Hermione pleaded, before fleeing once again back to the Castle.

Taken aback by the image of Hermione on the verge of tears, Quinn stopped dead in her tracks of her pursuit. The blonde witch watched the girl she hurt leave, filled with shame. Quinn dropped her head, "I'm sorry." The girl whispered, hoping the wind would carry it along until it reached the person that mattered.

**A/N: Again another long wait, but this time with a longer chapter :) I hope you guys enjoyed it, thank you so much for all your favorites, follows, and reviews. And please don't hesitate to express what you thought of it! I'll see you all at the next chapter ;)**


	10. Veritaserum

It's been a week since Hermione's.. Accident. And life has gone back to normal-ish.. kinda.. For Hermione the past week has been a mission, the avoid-Quinn-as-much-as-you-can-even-though-she's-basically-in-every-class-you-take mission. Surprisingly, it was easier than Hermione thought it would be. In fact the girl didn't need to do anything.

Quinn would arrive every class directly after Hermione, even if the bushy haired girl was as much as a quarter early. The blonde girl would then glance at Hermione, and walk to the furthest seat away from her. Quinn would then sit there, watching ahead of her until class began. Hermione has never seen Quinn raise her hand in class, but she always knew the answer if asked. Even the tough trick questions Quinn would answer correctly, with a smirk.

But it was Friday today, and Hermione was in one of her best moods. She hadn't seen a certain blonde witch all day, and tomorrow she and her best friends would go to Hogsmeade. The bushy haired girl was looking more forward to it than she dared to admit, but Hermione just wanted to have some fun again. It seemed that with all their classwork, prefect duties, the looming wrath of lord Voldemort, and quidditch, the trio had forgotten what fun was.

Hermione was sure nothing could ruin her mood for the day, that was however before she checked her timetable. It was a habit the girl had picked up in her first year after kids started to make fun of her because she knew her timetable by heart, and thus didn't needed to look at it to know her classes. Written in black the word Potions was silently mocking Hermione. It was the bushy haired girl's last class for the day, but it was with Slytherin, and that were the classes she loathed the most.

The girl sighed, stuffing her timetable away. Hermione was trying to remain in her happy mood for the rest of the day, starting with some positive thinking. "It's going to be alright, you'll just stick with Harry and Ron." Hermione repeated in her head as she made her way to the dungeons. As usual Hermione was the first to arrive at the classroom, she even beat Professor Slughorn to it. Hermione made her way to the trio's table, setting up her books, and waited for the other students to trickle in.

A few minutes had past when the echo of heels could be heard from the dungeons halls, it took another minute for Quinn Malfoy to appear in the doorway. Dressed in her usual hand-tailored drapes and her Slytherin jumper, which suited the girl way better than Hermione's, who looked down at her own tattered one. Quinn looked great, as always. The blonde witch looked around the empty classroom, her eyes resting on Hermione for a few seconds. Hermione instantly felt her cheeks heat up, secretly hoping her hair wasn't as messy as it was this morning.

Quinn gave her a curt nod, accompanied with by an emotionless "Granger." Which Hermione answered with a "Malfoy." And as usual Quinn would pick out the furthest table. In silence both the girls would wait for class to begin. Hermione who would look anywhere but in Quinn's direction, a red gloss covering her features, and Quinn looking straight ahead.

However when the class would get fuller and fuller with students, Hermione would glance in Quinn's direction. It was always notable how nobody would sit by the blonde Slytherin, in fact all her Slytherin peers would avoid her just as much as Hermione. Only Draco would join Quinn at her table, it was funny to see how the blonde girl's features would change then, they became more softer. A small smile gracing her face, her eyebrows raised, looking at her cousin with curiosity rather than her usual intimidating look. The two Malfoy's would talk softly with each other, with moments where one of the two told something funny and they shot the other the exact same grin, showing that they were indeed family. The cousins were in their own little bubble until class began.

"Hermione!" Harry greeted the bushy haired girl as he sat down next to her. Hermione took her eyes of the Malfoys's to greet her best friend. Harry shot her a toothy grin, "Excited for tomorrow? We'll go to The Three Broomsticks, drink some butter beer, visit Honeydukes." Harry spoke, excited. Hermione smiled at the black haired boy, glad he was as excited as she was, on the inside.

Harry leaned over more to Hermione, their shoulders touching. "I heard Draco talking to Quinn the other day, and they are going to the Three Broomsticks. It's the perfect way to keep an eye on them, and find out what they are up too." Harry continued, in a softer, less excited tone of voice. Hermione nodded, her own excitement slowly fading away.

Instead the heavy feeling of dread slowly crept in. The bushy haired girl glanced over at the Malfoy's table where Draco and Quinn were unknowingly talking to each other. Quinn was resting her head on the palm of her hand, casually leaning with her elbow on the table, sometimes making some hand gestures with her free hand. Their conversation got cut short however when Slughorn entered the classroom, clapping jubilantly in his hands.

"Alright boys and girls, gather around don't be shy now. Come on up to the front Harry my boy. Yes you too Miss Malfoy don't be shy come on here now." Slughorn said, beckoning for Quinn to come closer to the group that now surrounded the Potion's professor. "Today we'll start with an unique Potions project that I came up with, we'll be brewing a potion from scratch. The potion takes exactly a whole lunar phase, so it should be done exactly before the Christmas vacation. You'll brew it in pairs, and it'll be a joint effort, meaning you'll both get the same grade. Your pair will get the basic ingredients but you and your partner will have to do all the other work, for example you'll have to dry and crush it before it can be used in the potion. We'll be brewing Veritaserum, now who can tell me something about it?" Professor Slughorn ended his long explanation with a question to shake his students awake again.

Like it was a second nature, Hermione's hand immediately shot up. Quickly Hermione mentioned all the effects, and characteristics of the potion. "Very well Miss Granger, ten points to Gryffindor." Hermione grinned, looking around at her peers who were grinning along with her. Quinn, who was still standing at the back of the group, was rolling her eyes at the pathetic display of the Gryffindors, the blonde girl thought it was ridiculous how the rest of Gryffindor treated their only chance to win their beloved House Cup. They would put the bushy haired girl down for being smart, and only when Hermione was convenient to them the Gryffindors would show some kind of appreciation.

Quinn huffed, some House you got then. "Now it's time to pair up, remember the potion takes a whole lunar phase so be wise to pick a partner you can work with." Slughorn warned, already knowing how these things went sometimes. Quickly the students scrambled to their respective tables and partners, a few already met up with theirs silently, and others looking a little lost before someone else picked them up to be their partner.

Eventually everybody, except for two, managed to get a partner. Hermione was sitting at her table, looking a little lost. The bushy haired girl had hoped Ron would partner up with her, but before she could ask him Lavender had stolen him away. Harry had partnered up with Neville, Harry had agreed to make the potion in exchange for a few Herbology papers from Neville

"I already promised Pansy I would work with her, I can't switch with you now. We can't afford to make another scene, or any more.. slip ups." Draco raised his eyebrows accusingly at the blonde girl, who let go of his arm. Quinn bowed her head, mumbling under her breath, and slowly trickled off to her respective potion partner. With a sigh Quinn dropped her books on the table, taking a place on the high crutch next to Hermione. Silently, the blonde witch began flipping through the pages to find the right page.

"It's page 346." Hermione said softly, not wanting to cause any troubles when there was a grade on the line. Quinn looked up from her book, and shot the-know-it-all a smile.

"Thanks." The American witch replied, finally finding the correct page. The silence between the two girls felt heavy between them, Quinn was pretending to read the instructions while Hermione was stirring in her empty cauldron. "So.." Quinn drawled out, when after 5 minutes she couldn't just continue to pretend to read, the blonde girl wasn't stupid.

"I'm sorry I ran away from you." Hermione blurted out, her eyes wide as she realized what she just had said.

Quinn looked down at her table, plucking away at some splinters. "You had every right to. I'm sorry I blew you up." Quinn replied, sounding truly torn by her actions. When Quinn looked up again, Hermione smiled at her, easing Quinn's guilt a bit. "Shall I cut up the flowers of the Aconite and Snakeweed to dry, while you prepare the water?" Quinn offered, not wanting to waste any more time dwelling about feelings. Hermione nodded, quickly getting to work. Another silence settled between the girls, but this one was nothing like the last one, it almost felt serene.

* * *

"Come on Harry! Hurry up!" Hermione yelled, standing at the stone staircase to the Gryffindor Boys' Dormitory. Hermione was thrilled, finally she could put on some of her normal comfortable clothes and hang out with her best friends all day. Laughing Harry walked down the stairs, also wearing his normal clothing. Hermione looked him up and down, redoing his collar when she saw he hadn't properly put it over his vest.

The bushy haired girl smoothed out the last crinkles out of her best friend's vest before she shot the boy a radiant smile, never feeling insecure about anything around the boy. "Are you ready to go?" Hermione asked him, handing him his coat. Harry nodded, asking where Ron was.

"Here!" Came from the couch near the fireplace. Ron was sitting on it, munching away on the leftovers from Hermione's get-well-soon present from Dumbledore.

"Shall we go?" Hermione asked, already standing at the portrait of the Fat Lady. The bushy haired girl was almost jumping from excitement.

"Let's go!" Ron exclaimed, and the trio walked through the portrait hole.

* * *

"No Harry, all I'm saying is that I think it's more efficient if we go to Honey Dukes first, because it gets always so awfully busy in the afternoon." Hermione pleaded her argument, they just had arrived at Hogsmeade and now they were deciding where to go first. Hogsmeade always looked like a Christmas card; the little thatched cottages and shops were all covered in a layer of crisp snow. There were holly wreaths on the doors and strings of enchanted candles hanging in the trees.

Hermione loved it here, she loved the sound of the snow scrunching under the weight of her boots. The little snowflakes falling down on her woolen beanie, covering it with their own layer of crisp snow. "Yes but we can warm up in The Three Broomsticks first." Harry added his own argument, looking at Ron who shaking, and was trying to warm up his gloves covered fingers by blowing his warm breath on them. Hermione reply was drown out by an high shriek.

"No Draco! Stop it! No!" Was yelled out behind a small wooden house. Harry and Ron instantly draw their wands, Ron slightly stepping in front of Hermione. The trio heard a loud laugh, followed by another scream. Walking quickly and with their wands raised, the Gryffindor did the first thing they are good at, showing courage. The three walked around the house finding Quinn laying on the ground, her characteristic blonde hair sprawled out over the white snow, creating a surprisingly beautiful contrast. The girl's cousin was standing over the her, his back turned to the trio.

Draco was holding something over his head, what it was precisely Hermione couldn't tell. The only thing she could really tell for sure was how her heart was in her throat, and the adrenaline flowing through her body was making her hand shake. "Draco," Harry called out, gaining Draco's attention. The blond boy turned around. Seeing three wands pointed at him, Draco dropped the loading snow he was holding in his hands and raised them up.

"What the hell, Potter?" Draco spit out, instantly lowering his hands again as he recognized his attackers were. Quinn sat up from her laying position, her hair covered in little snowflakes. It was loose, and the girl was dressed in, what Hermione presumed, her regular clothes. The tailored robes were replaced by a woolen, baby blue coat, with a long black cardigan peeking out from under it. The girl's skirt was switched for a dark, skinny jeans, and instead of wearing her usual black heels Quinn had chosen for warm and comfortable looking boots.

"What's going on?" Quinn questions, raising an eyebrow at the three Gryffindors standing a few feet away from them. Draco stepped aside, lending out his hand to pull Quinn back to her feet again. The blond boy was about to raise his wand too, but Quinn put a stop to it by placing her hand on his. "Put that wand away Potter, we're unharmed." Quinn said, like Harry was being ridiculous. The blonde girl eyed Hermione for a second, before switching her attention back to the boy with the glasses who asked her a question.

"What were you doing?" Harry asked, lowering his wand, but not yet putting it away.

Quinn scoffed, "Not like it's any of your business, but since you so rudely disrupted us, we were playing in the snow. Now if you'll excuse us, we're late." And with that Quinn quickly pulled Draco along, through the passageway and out of sight.

"She's up to something." Harry immediately said, staring at the place where they last saw the blonde girl. Hermione's excitement she had an hour ago came crashing down on her, her stomach churned and she agreed. This wasn't going to be the outing she had been hoping for.

**Alright you guys, chapter 10 already. I'm so sorry for this long wait, I had some troubles at school and what not. Luckily I got a few breaks to write this up for you, I noticed I had surpassed the 50 followers, that's great you guys! I hope you all enjoyed this new chapter. Also you my dear Guest who reviewed, all of you lovely reviewers thanks a bunch! :) **


	11. The Dark Looking Figure

The trio walked through the small streets of Hogsmeade Village in silence, Harry was practicing a spell he found in his book in his mind, while Hermione was replaying the way Quinn looked laying in the white snow, and Ron.. Ron had one of his moments of clarity when he noticed the funny look Hermione gave Quinn when they ran into the Malfoy's, it gave the red head a strange feeling, but Ron decided to overthink it later with some Butterbeer. Ron smiled at the thought of it, hmm Butterbeer.

Hermione frowns, seeing Harry mumble something inaudible and making small hand movements. "Harry, I have to say it." Hermione speaks up, stopping the boy in his tracks. "For weeks you have been carrying around that book, you practically sleep with it, and you have no desire to find out who The Half-Blood Prince is?"

"I didn't say I wasn't _curious_. And by the way, I don't sleep with it." Harry replied, defensively, walking further.

Ron let out a sarcastic chortle, "Yeah. Right." Ron said, and Harry shot him a glare. "Well it's true! I like a nice chat before I go to bed. Now you're always reading that bloody book. It's like being with Hermione." And this time it was Hermione's turn to glare at the red head who shot up his hands as an apology.

"Well I was curious. So I went to the-"

"Library." Harry and Ron said in chorus, to which Hermione raised her eyebrow, like she had seen Quinn do it a millionth time. "And?" Harry egged on.

"And nothing.. There is no reference to the Half-Blood Prince anywhere." Hermione replied, annoyance clearly visible in her voice.

"Good. That settles it then." Harry dismisses, happy to drop the subject.

Hermione starts to object but Harry shushes her, pointing at Slughorn walking ahead of them, passing a weary Flitwick coming the other way.

"Filius!" Slughorn exclaimed like his usual self. "I was hoping to find you at the Three Broomsticks." Flitwick doesn't really pay the taller man attention, he just walks by, mumbling something about an emergency choir practice. Harry couldn't lie as he watched the small man go, he wouldn't want to spend his private time with Horace Slughorn either. Only the young boy had no choice, Dumbledore wouldn't want him to get close with the potions professor for no reason. As he watched the tall professor trudge on through the village, an idea popped into his mind. "Who's up for a Butterbeer?"

The Three Broomsticks was always a busy visited, the regulars for the pub were practically glued to their bar stools, and the wizards and witches who stayed at the inn usually didn't get further into the Village than the bar of the inn. Harry immediately glances around when the trio enters the busy pub, he spots Slughorn bragging to an uninterested wizard at the bar. Hermione and Ron had already picked out a clean table and were in the middle of seating themselves when Harry sat down at a different one.

The table was strewn with the detritus from the previous customer, but it gave the boy the best view on the potions professor . Hermione and Ron exchange a glance, shrug, and join the brown haired boy at the table. Ron starts to take the chair across from Harry, blocking his view. "No, no. Sit next to me." Harry orders. Ron stops, and shares another glance with Hermione, but sits down next to his best friend anyway. A skinny kid in an apron appeared and tosses a filthy rag on the table which wipes the table on its own. Harry practically cranes his neck around the boy, keeping an eye on Slughorn.

"What'll we have?" The boy asks. Hermione ordered three Butterbeer making sure that the skinny boy knew she wanted a splash of ginger in hers, call it a habit but she didn't really like it without her ginger.

The kid whistles before he walks away, making the rag leap back into his pocket. Harry's view suddenly gets blocked by a familiar blonde hairdo. Draco and Harry eyes lock briefly, but Draco exits quickly after that. "Aw bloody hell.." Ron says, glowering, when he spots his little sister sitting with Dean in a dark corner booth.

"Oh honestly Ronald, suck it up. They are just holding hands.." Hermione chastises Ron at the same time as Dean leans in and kisses Ginny. "And snogging." The bushy haired girl continues, somewhat looking a bit nauseous.

"I'd like to leave." Ron states, rubbing his sweaty hands against his jeans.

"Leave!? You can't be serious."

"That happens to be my sister." Ron spats to Hermione.

"So!?" Hermione questions the red head. "What if Ginny looked over here and saw you snogging me?" When the words left her mouth she instantly knew that it sounded a whole lot different in her mind. A light blush creeps up on the bushy haired girl, and her voice wavers as she continues. "Would you expect her to get up and leave?" Ron only blinks, utterly speechless.

"Wait, is that Quinn?" Harry speaks up after being silence during Ron and Hermione's heated exchange. Hermione's eyes scan around briefly, before seeing a blonde girl sitting in a dark corner next to the toilets. The girl was practically draped on top of the table, her chest resting on it while she was talking to a dark looking figure. The man, or so Harry presumed, had half long, curling, black hair, that stuck to his face from greasiness. His clothes consisted of a long, black, leather coat. The coat was ripped here and there and on some places the color had faded to a dull grey.

The booth was in a secluded area, and the duo looked like they didn't want to get interrupted. The skinny boy, that had cleaned the trio's table, got that message pretty quickly when he approached the secluded booth to take their orders, and his effort got paid with a slap on the head with his own wet rag. "Harry, m'boy!" Was shouted through the little pub so loudly that even the duo in the back could hear it, and the girl catches Hermione's eyes. The bushy haired girl quickly looks the other way, avoiding Quinn's eyes who until now hadn't even noticed that the trio was in the pub too. Quinn catches herself looking a little while longer at Hermione than was necessary, apparently so does her companion who clears his throat. Quinn shakes her head one time, and continues their conversation.

Over at the Trio's table Harry enthusiastically stood up, wearing a big smile on his face. "Hello sir. Wonderful to see you. What are you doing here?" Harry asked, politely. Slughorn is swaying on the spot where he is standing, and he happily takes another gulp of his drink, obviously not the regular Butterbeer.

"Oh, the Three Broomsticks and I go way back. Longer than I'd care to admit. In fact, I remember when it was simply One Broomstick!" Slughorn exclaims and guffaws about his own joke, Harry joins in laughing heartily along with the potions professor. The professor sways even more on his feet and his mug sloshes over, the half of the content going over Hermione, while the other half splashes on the table. Hermione jumps up as the cold liquid hits the skin of her neck, giving her the shivers as it starts to seep through the fabric of her sweater. The scent of the alcohol reached Hermione's nose and automatically the girl scrunches up her nose in disgust. Quickly Hermione grabbed her mug of Butterbeer to rinse away that awful taste, the strong scent of alcohol had left in her mouth.

"All hands on deck, Granger!" Slughorn practically shouts, again dangerously swaying his mug around. Hermione sends the tall man a thin smile over her mug, later grimacing as the professor turns his attention away. "Listen Harry, m'boy, in the old days I used to throw together lots of get-togethers and invite a select student or two. Now I know you missed the first one, so you'll definitely be at this one right? You can't miss it."

"Definitely sir, I'd consider it an honor." Harry accepts the invite.

"You'll be joining us too like the last time right, miss Granger?"

Hermione, who was in the midst of squeezing the liquid Slughorn spilled on her out of her hair, nodded and answered that she'd be delighted. Sounding anything but delighted at the offer.

"Brilliant. Look for my owl. Good to see you, Walleby." The potions professor addresses Ron excitedly, before he makes his exit. Ron frowns, and grumbles something before he focuses on Harry.

"What are you playing at?" The red head asked, irritated that the professor just couldn't get his name right.

"You know.. Dumbledore asked me to get to know him." Harry replied, they had talked about this. It was the first thing Dumbledore had said to Harry.

"So you really have to go to his bloody gatherings?" Before Harry could reply, Hermione slams her empty mug down on the table. Ron gestures to his lip in an awkward manner, "Um.. You've got a little.." He mumbles, now pointing at Hermione's face. Realizing what Ron meant, Hermione wipes her Butterbeer mustache off with her sleeve in horror. Looking at the now wet sleeve Hermione groans inwardly, starting to feel her sweater stick to her skin thanks to Slughorn. The bushy haired girl excuses herself, and makes her way to the toilet, sending Ginny a shy wave when she walks by her.

Hermione passes various of tables and booths, but there is only one that she dreads to pass. Quinn and the dark figure still seemed to be in a deep conversation, Hermione wondered what they were talking about. As the bushy haired girl passed she couldn't refrain her curious self from looking. Quinn immediately stopped with talking as she felt eyes on her, and quickly she found Hermione standing at the toilets looking at her. The blonde nodded in Hermione's direction, and waited then till Hermione entered the toilets before giving the sign to her partner.

Standing at the sink in the tiny toilet, Hermione took in the sight of herself in the mirror. Hermione's right side of her sweeter was completely drenched by now, and her wet locks were tangled together. The bushy haired girl rolled the little heart, that was attached to the necklace around her neck, back and forth. Hermione's parents had sent it with the mail as an early Christmas presents. Usually Hermione never wore the jewelry her parents gave her, afraid of losing it or breaking it, but she was rather fond of the engraved little heart that spelled her name. Carefully the bushy haired girl placed the white gold necklace on the edge of the sink, and started to dry her sweater with some paper towels.

Deliberately Hermione washed away the last remnants of the alcohol out of her hair before drying it with some paper towels. As she throws out the last paper towel in the tiny thrash bin next to the small sink, Katie Bell enters the tiny toilet. "Hi Hermione," Katie greeted the bushy haired girl, accompanying it with a friendly smile.

Washing her hands, Hermione replied: "Hello Katie, how are you?" The two girls shared some more pleasantries until Katie enters the toilet stall and Hermione dries of her hands. When Hermione exited the toilet, she almost runs into Quinn, who was standing just outside. Hermione immediately opens up her mouth to apologize, but the look that Quinn gives her made her close her mouth as quickly as she opened it. The blonde passed Hermione without a word, and entered the toilet. Hermione decides to shrug it off, and walks back. Walking passed Quinn's booth she notices that it's empty, the man probably left.

When Hermione reached their table, Ron was still sneaking glances at Dean and Ginny. Bawling his hand into a fist every time Dean leaned in a little too close towards Ginny for the red head's liking. Slughorn was back at his seat at the bar, resuming his previous activity, bragging about himself at any random customer. "Hermione, let's go." Harry said, already in the middle of putting on his coat. That guy that was with Quinn just left, if we hurry we can still catch up with him."

Ron stood up too to put on his coat, mumbling something about killing Dean when they got back at Hogwarts. Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron's temper, but refrained from sating anything. He'd calm down when they finally were at Honeydukes she thought. When the trio all had their coats on, they left the warm and cozy little pub. The wind and snow had picked up, and it had become a lot harder to see through the curtain of snow. However a dark figure could be made out in the distance, trudging through the thick blanket of snow. To get out of the wind the trio moved into a niche next to the pub. "Alright, let's follow him until we know where he is going! Then we'll go to hone- Wait there's Quinn!" Harry yelled over the howling of the wind, pulling them deeper into the niche.

Quinn stepped out of the pub, pulling out her white beanie out of her coat pocket to put it on. The blonde looked left and right, considering which way to go. Pulling up the collar of her baby blue coat, shrinking into it some more before walking into the opposite way of her black companion. "Hermione you will follow Quinn! Ron and I will follow the man, we'll meet up at Honeydukes." Harry continued his plan. The trio nodded at each other, and went their separate ways.

**I know, I know.. This is incredibly late, but here it is at last. Hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you'll review. It'll motivate a lot :) **


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